Kitten Pyramid follow up their critically acclaimed debut with another wonderfully eccentric slice of prog-pop on KOOZY!!

Release date: 2nd April 2021

Label: Flip Flop Records

Format: LP / CD / Digital

Warning: this album contains songs about bees (lots of them), Facebook views (lots of them), and doughnuts (just the one).

KOOZY!! is Kitten Pyramid’s follow up to 2013’s critically acclaimed Uh -Oh! which garnered praise from Mojo, Classic Rock, Q and Prog Magazine. In fact, the latter described it as ‘a gloriously strange musical roller-coaster ride.’ That sentiment can be applied to KOOZY!!

The title track opens up the album in joyous fashion. Horns wails around the upbeat march before the vocals join in. This creates an aesthetic that evokes Welsh trailblazers, Super Furry Animals. Leggy Friend follows; a song about frogs – you can imagine that this is the kind of music Syd Barrett would have adored. It’s quirky and fun but it is above all else, very good. There are so many layers to peel back on the track (and the album), not least the brilliant lyrics.

Age old sayings warning of not feeling the benefit if you don’t take your hat and scarf off are in play on Seven Day Duvet. What a brilliant song title! Doughnuts opens up with a reverent chorus of, ‘Same Old, Same Old, Same Old.’ The vocal hook stoically adorns the song throughout which means that the catchiness level reaches for the sky. There is a playfulness in the sound that evokes the spirit of ’67 era Pink Floyd.

Aunty Mabel was one of the lead singles from KOOZY!! The swerve that Kitten Pyramid take in sound style at the midpoint of KOOZY!! is brilliant. Hard guitars and a faster pace give off a jauntiness that you’d find on a Graham Coxon record. Even within the song the band morph the sound from fast paced rocker to a lush, sun drenched haze. The same thing happens in Give Me The Keys as the band essentially create two songs in one.

In the world of music, there needs to be more songs about chocolate bars. Kitten Pyramid add to the canon with their ode to the coconut favourite, the Bounty. Troll ramps up the lush string sections in a little ditty that could have come from the pen of Neil Hannon.

Needles has a sombre tone to it and is the slowest track on the album; it’s a masterfully placed change of pace. The strings, piano and bass underpin spoken word elements evoking Scott Milligan’s mother Yola. She sadly lost her life due to a short battle with COVID in 2020. On his mother’s passing, Milligan says that her spirit runs through KOOZY!! The slower tempo bleeds into Swansong as the album reaches its crescendo in a brilliant and psychedelic swirl of voices, pulsing bass, upbeat piano and exultant horns.

KOOZY!! was recorded in Rockfield Studios, Wales, and KONK in North London and has been produced by Nick Brine (Oasis, Beta Band, Super Furry Animals, Stone Roses), Christian Hardy and Nick Hemming. Musicians and singers include fellow Burtonians The Leisure Society alongside Scott’s father and his original band from the 60s, and all of Nick Brine’s family!

Kitten Pyramid have created one of 2021’s greatest records to date. It’s unique flair and wonderful eccentricity make for an unbelievably enjoyable album. It’s full of fun, joy, love of the simple things, a tinge of sadness and doughnuts. Tasty.

Take a trip in to the world of this band and watch the lyric video for KOOZY!! from Kitten Pyramid, below.

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