Hot Press meets Kowalski

A couple of years ago, Bangor band Kowalski released a startling song called ‘Get Back’, and gave every impression of being an act a few ticks off exploding.

Those awaiting the big bang, however, were to be disappointed and – the odd gig aside –the band have since spent the intervening period raising barely a puff of dust.
The arrival of their debut album, For The Love Of Letting Go, however, allows for a reappraisal of this period in the band’s history. Rather than a spell of inertia, the last 18 months can now be viewed as a time of subterranean creative ferment.
The album’s 10 tracks drift by in a wistful haze, making it feel less like a collection of songs, than a protracted mood piece mourning the passing of the summer. Kowalski, it’s now clear, have been keeping very busy indeed.
“The writing came naturally,” reveals founding member, Paddy Baird.  “We were in an inspired frame of mind after the Take Care, Take Flight EP. We felt like we had found our sound: that in a weird way we were echoing the breezy, shimmering, coastal vibes of County Down. We knew that was the direction we wanted to take the album in. Songs like ‘Get Back’ and ‘Outdoors’ felt like they would be at home on this record and we built up the dynamic around the material. We always wanted to make something that flowed as an album, rather than a bunch of tunes thrown together. We wanted something thought-provoking and meaningful that would stand the test of time.”
Debut albums can tend to be noisy statements of intent. However, Letting Go delivers brilliantly on the band’s desire to evoke something sadder and more plaintive.
“We love music with a melancholy feel. We’ve all been in hard places at times. The record is really about reflecting on and overcoming those experiences, learning and looking to the future and new beginnings. The hope and escapism of love’s young dream is the sentiment we tried to translate.”
Given the diaphanous, fleeting nature of that experience, you suspect that Kowlaski may struggle to bottle this kind of lightening again. Now decamped en-masse to London, it’s heartening to hear that they plan to take influence from a very non-Gold Coast source.
“London’s a very exciting and vibrant place to be,” says Paddy, “and we’re looking forward to writing in a different setting, although I think our inspiration will always come from the same places. We would never look to an urban environment for ideas. It feels a lot more natural for us to write about more expansive landscapes. But you never know.”