Regular readers will know that when I really like an album I'm hearing for the first time, I'll get to about the 4th track and then excitedly return to the start to listen again. However I can't ever remember doing that halfway through the 1st track of a single which has been sent to us - until now that is, with Danish band 'Kikos' and their simply sensational song 'Timeless Melody'.
To give some background about the band first, well Kikos are a Copenhagen based duo (David Klinke and Valdemar Have) that released an EP in 2015, won a Danish songwriting award for being 'Talent of the Year' and since then have been locked away, working with a variety of other musicians to try to establish the sound they really want for their melancholy and wistful style of pop songs.
The result is 'Timeless Melody', and this track has totally blown me away. It opens with a cascade of dreamy piano music, overlaid by a second piano line working apparently in conflict with the first, before they somehow fuse together to create this beautiful if simple enough musical theme. And then the vocals come in, somewhere between Kurt Wagner of Lambchop and Matt Berninger from The National, and they have this assurance and confidence that makes you want to believe and latch on to every word of lyrics offered. Those lyrics are pretty special too, just take a listen for yourself rather than me trying to quote them.
The combined effect of the vocals, the complexity and beauty of the musical arrangements and those lyrics leave me slightly startled and completely fascinated to understand more. This is the most impressive 'debut' I've heard in a long while, with all respect to all the other talented musicians we've written about.
Anyway, I've probably written enough for now. We'll definitely write about Kikos again, and in the meantime they can be located in the world of Facebook, and they will also be appearing at SPOT Festival next month too.