Aberdeen indie rockers The Little Kicks have confirmed an eight-date tour to promote new album People Need Love.
The acclaimed four-piece will release their hotly anticipated fifth album on Friday, September 30.
The Little Kicks will begin a UK tour with a home city show at The Arts Centre, Aberdeen on Saturday, October 15.
Cairn String Quartet will join the band for the Granite City show.
Singer Steven Milne admits he delved into new areas of lyrical honesty during the writing of the new album.
Steven said: “Some of the songs are the rawest and certainly most intimate for me lyrically.
“So much happened to me since our last album release.
“My dad passed in November 2017 and my son was born in August.
“I had just become a dad then lost my dad.
“With a couple of the songs, I wasn’t really thinking about them getting too far outside my bedroom when putting them together.
“Then I had to share them with the guys which felt a bit weird but it’s okay because we are in the same gang.
“Then cut to having to sing it to 100 people and you think now this is strange and really personal.
“A couple of times I pulled the lyrics back to being less exposed, but men don’t talk enough about problems and I decided to be open.
“The song On And On is about when I wasn’t really looking after myself for a while.
“I wrote that song a couple of times as I thought it was a bit too much.
“Then I thought if someone else feels the same way they might get something from it.
“Hopefully if someone else isn’t doing so good we can encourage them to do the same and to talk or to share.”
Epic title track People Need Love
The album closes with the epic, heartbreakingly beautiful People Need Love.
It is a fitting finale to a superb album of musical and lyrical ambition.
People Need Love must surely be an early contender for Scottish Album of the Year.
Steven said: “With People Need Love I said to the guys this is a really long song, basically about grief, and is a heavy subject.
“So I appreciate you may not want to do this song after we said we were going to do an upbeat album.
“Then I come with a seven-minute song about my dad.
“But they liked it and really wanted to work on the song.
“I also didn’t want them to tip-toe around me and think they can’t criticize this song because it is about something sensitive.
“There are a couple of lines on it that are about very specific things that have happened to me that are quite difficult.
“I guess I have the luxury that they are oblique enough that only I know what they are about.”
Second single set to be released
In June this year the band released single Ruminations, their first music in five years.
The single was accompanied by a video shot at Aberdeen’s iconic Bon Accord Baths.
A second single from the album, Right To Be Here, is set for release on Friday, August 19.
Right To Be Here was partly inspired by The Little Kicks’ nomination as finalists as ‘Best Musical Group’ at an award ceremony in central Scotland in 2017.
Steven said: “We felt quite chuffed to be included in the awards but didn’t think we had much chance of winning.
“But we thought let’s go down as we have an album to promote.
“It wasn’t a big award but we did then start to think maybe we could actually win it which would give us a boost.
“However they gave it to a funk band that had won it the year before.
“I thought about why I felt aggrieved about that for a couple of weeks later as the award didn’t really mean anything.
“That incident, coupled with another set-back or two around that time, had me thinking ‘why should we be overlooked?’ whilst also wondering ‘why should I care?’
“I decided I wouldn’t let that feeling take hold and jotted down how I felt in words.”
Live shows with Cairn String Quartet
People Need Love will be released across all digital streaming services.
The new album includes Cairn Strings Quartet who will also perform with the band at Aberdeen Arts Centre in October.
Cairn String Quartet have provided backing strings Paul Weller, Echo and the Bunnymen and Ocean Colour Scene.
Steven said: “Cairn String Quartet played strings on the last album and the new one.
“On the new album People Need Love the string parts are pretty integral.
“Having live strings is something we have never done before.
“The guys pushed for the Arts Centre as they wanted to play somewhere different.
“And playing a theatre means you can have a lot more people on stage.
“We might also have a couple of pals playing additional instruments to fill it out as it is quite a big sounding record.
“And there is only four of us. So having pals jump on might help do it justice.”
The Little Kicks’ British tour dates
- The Arts Centre, Aberdeen (w/ Cairn String Quartet) – Saturday, October 15.
- The Tolbooth, Stirling – Friday, November 4.
- MacArts, Galashiels – Saturday, November 5.
- The Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh (w/ Cairn String Quartet) – Friday, November 18.
- Bobiks, Newcastle – Saturday, November 19.
- Drygate, Glasgow (w/ Cairn String Quartet) – Thursday, November 24.
- PJ Molloys, Dunfermline – Friday, November 25.
- The Hunter S Thompson, Dundee – Saturday, November 26.
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