The Morning Kings – The Morning Kings (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

Sometimes the right band comes along just at the right time. This isn’t some grandiose statement about the nature of the universe, more an insight into how my morning is going. When you have spent the day so far struggling to find something new to write about yet another grim faced, earnest, indie band from a northern industrial town looking to change the world via a working knowledge of A minor or had to grapple with yet another sub-genre of dystopian Norwegian metal, finding The Morning Kings on the “to do” list was like a breath of fresh air.

With their previous EP, Sunrise, 5 years down the line, a new self-titled release is going to be warmly welcomed in many quarters, a much needed dose of sunshine funk and groovy rock jams in these cold, dark winter days. The Morning Kings revel in slick blends of soulful blues rock, funked up reggae rhythms and Latin grooves all delivered in a way that is wonderfully loose but still technically right on the button. Not a bad skill to have. In a world of production line pop and transient, fashionable fusions, it is great to see a band take some tried and tested musical building blocks and still find interesting new shapes to build with them. It is easy to see what is going on under the hood of the engine but you are still going to be blown away by the ride.

The new e.p. will undoubtedly help propel their already rising stock towards more established musical markets and the forging of a sound that both suggests an illegal beach party and a totally commercial venture is either a very astute move or a very lucky creative break. Yes, this is just what my morning needed and now every time the pressures of the day look like getting to be too much, I am safe in the knowledge that this is stashed away in the medicine cabinet marked with the label “take with a glass of water up to four times a day.” Well, not water, obviously.