Although ‘I Wonder If The World Knows?’ is their debut LP, The K’s are no johnny-come-lately chancers (regardless of what their 2023 song title may indicate), grabbing the attention of clued in onlookers way back in 2017 with their startling first single release ‘Sarajevo’. As would be expected of a 7 year old song, ‘Sarajevo’ has been omitted from the collection’s tracklisting, but in all honesty it’s really not missed, as the sheer quality of the included tracks is sky high.
If you’re not familiar with The K’s, the Earlestown foursome have a knack of pulling earnest indie rock tunes out of the bag time after time after time. As a rule, their melodies are key, backed with driving, visceral guitars and singer James Boyle’s northern vocals masterfully telling stories of everyday small town rough and tumble acting as an emotional appendage to roar along to.
Funny that we mention guitars and raw everyday small town life when the first track begins with violins and is named ‘Icarus’, harking across to towering notions of Greek mythology, but the fervent rhythm starts in no time and after a bit of a listen it turns out the track’s about the perils of having a bit too much of a good time on a night out with Icarus getting too close to the sun as a metaphor.
From hereon in, sustained rhythms and candid lyrics compose the majority of tracks, most of which we’ve already heard. In fact only ‘Icarus’, ‘Throw It All Away’ and ‘Circles’ are brand new numbers. It’s no bad thing as although the band have carved out a cult following, up until now the group’s symbiosis of punk-pop and indie rock hasn’t had the attention of the wider world, the singles not yet reaching the mass audience they deserve.
The Arctic Monkeys comparison is easy due to the regalement of nights out and run ins with mates of mates, as in the smirksome chorus of ‘Black and Blue’: “He’s 6 ft tall and 3 ft wide/ I don’t know him too well/ but I know he’s done time on the inside”. If anything Boyles’ stories are even more brutally suburban than Turner’s.
It’s on the stripped down songs that The K’s demonstrate the range of what they can do, ‘Lights Go Down’ boasting just the essentials, then out of nowherw a lifting refrain. ‘Hoping Maybe’ is the real tearjerker, an anthemic jewel with stirring strings to a girl the singer’s met whilst wrecked on a night out “I was hoping maybe you might know how to save me/ and I know we’ve never met but tell me where you’ve been just lately/ Cause I’ve missed you all my life, I just never realised it til tonight”.
‘Valley One’ is positively hymnal, just the singer, guitars and the strings that opened the record up. Although they’ve made their name with an abundance of brilliantly punchy, heartfelt singles about falling in love with girls on messy nights out, getting high and getting duffed in, it’s these total rousers that show The K’s have enough longevity to be sticking around for a long while more yet. The whole world’s gonna know before long.
‘I Wonder If The World Knows?’ was released on 5th April 2024. To mark the album’s release The K’s are currently on tour around the UK with The Clause and numerous other support acts and you can catch them at the following dates:
9th April – Glasgow, Assai
10th April – Warrington, Parr Hall
11th April – Bolton, The Ramp
12th April – Cardiff, The Tramshed (supported by Cardiff’s own The Malakites)
13th April – Birmingham, O2 Institute
18th April – Edinburgh, La Belle Angele
19th April – Newcastle, NX
20th April – Leeds, O2 Academy
26th April – Manchester, O2 Victoria Warehouse
27th April – Nottingham, Rock City
2nd May – Camden, London, Electric Ballroom
3rd May – Brighton, Concorde 2
4th May – Bristol, Thekla
11th May – Stockton-on-Tees, KU
You can buy the LP right now on loads of formats and it’s also available to hear on all of the streaming sites, obviously.
An official music video has also been put out for the stunning ‘Lights Go Down’, which we’ve included for your viewing pleasure below:
Edge of Arcady 