Fresh off an extensive tour of the US and Canada — and just ahead of an equally lengthy tour of Europe — UK-based octet Kokoroko has released its new Get the Message EP. Made up of four vastly different tracks, Get the Message is a succinct showcase of the band’s genre-defying approach and wide variety of musical influences.
Lead track “Higher” is an easygoing, horn-driven cut that would be ideal for a blissful highway cruise, while “Sweeter Than” encapsulates its title with Kokoroko’s signature warmth and beautiful harmonized vocals. “My Prayer” starts as the project’s most easygoing and mellow cut before a soaring, triumphant ending, and “Three Piece Suit,” the project’s final track and lead single, enlists vocalist Azekel to land atop a bouncing beat, making for a track that’s both a celebration of blessings and a salute to the forebears that enabled the band to do what they’re doing currently. The EP’s cover was crafted by Alaska Alaska — the Virgil Abloh-founded creative agency that also created artwork for BadBadNotGood‘s recent Mid Spiral album— and artist Luci Pina.
“[Get the Message] is a marker of change for us as a group,” trumpeter and vocalist Sheila Maurice-Grey told Hypebeast in a recent interview. “All four songs are so different, but they come together for a cohesive project. To be honest, we were writing for our next album. “Higher” was the first song we’d written for it, and it just so happened that these four specific songs sounded great as their own project.”
You can stream Get the Message now, and vinyl pressings of the project are available on Kokoroko’s Bandcamp page as well.
