Kawala Tickets

KAWALA found the courage to begin again. Together, the North London five-piece have scaled exhilarating heights since vocalist Jim Higson and guitarist Daniel McCarthy’s packed-out, homespun acoustic performances as students. Though the harmonic tenderness of folk is foundational to KAWALA’s sound, it is their instinct for pop music – the kind that is nourished by hooks, highs and a sun-blush glow of optimism for brighter horizons – which came to define this particular magic which expanded far beyond those small rooms. When the last decade of pop music had a bitter taste, there is another kind of resistance to be found in sweetness. Armed with drummer Ben Batten, guitarist Dan Lee, and bassist Reeve Coulson, KAWALA’s sound befits the scale of their ambition: [live achievements], and their debut album Better With You (2022) reached #29 in the Official Albums Chart. It’s all a testament to their creative alchemy, but more than that, it speaks to the strength of the community that has made KAWALA stand for something greater than themselves. 

Their rise had been meteoric, but it was hard-earned. The band weathered a global pandemic which completely erased the element of performance which had been so essential to their identity; the rules of engagement between an artist and the demands of their audience had been completely rewritten in the short time since they began. It was sink or swim. The release of Better With You (2022) was a statement of resilience, the reward after being a year of extensive touring across shows and festivals throughout Europe, tireless promotion and the cultivation of around-the-clock social media content. There wasn’t much left for them to give. What they did next had once felt unimaginable: they started to say ‘no’. 

“I know how detrimental that can be, but we really needed it,” shares Daniel. “We’d never had time to really focus on who we are and what we want to sound like.” It was a decision arrived with no small degree of risk, but time was a luxury which they felt, for the first time in their career, they could afford. “We could’ve spent a year on social media trying to keep people entertained, but it would’ve just been false. We needed to step away properly in order to gather what we wanted for our next phase. The space away has helped us give ourselves a chance to give this the best shot we have.”

KAWALA has always been allied to the summer, in sound and spirit. If Better With You (2022) was their sunrise, then this new music – their first in almost two years – is their midday sun. These songs are a prism through which this unified beam of light is focused to divide into a far-reaching spectrum of colour, curiosity, and above all, confidence. “The reason we think this is the best we’ve ever sounded is because we trusted ourselves,” says Jim. “It feels like we’ve achieved what we’ve always wanted.” 

When faced with professional opinion and unlimited options, they started to question the validity of their instincts. And so, they stripped everything back to basics. The band set their anchor in North London, a homecoming which had been long overdue. It was in a compact studio in Finsbury Park, with little more than some guitars, one keyboard and a modest vocal booth, that they would fall in love with their sound all over again – this time, reinvigorated and with a desire to reinvent. Within these limitations, they found the creative freedom they had been searching for. 

They devoted themselves to that room for eight months with producers Josef Page and Saint Raymond, and began to write in unexplored shades and colours; hundreds of these explorations had been sketched out before alighting on an intentional direction. “We were all just buzzing to get into this funny little studio to get in there and make it happen, and not feel scared to say no to things we didn’t like because it felt like an environment where it was okay to communicate our thoughts and feelings,” says Daniel. This dedicated focus brought about a consistency in their new music, a tangible quality that is unmistakably KAWALA which they hadn’t felt in their music before; their early sound, underlined with a certain innocence, has evolved into newfound confidence and trust in their intuition. Swapping acoustic for electric, the band are loosening their loyalty to folk in favour of a sound that is pop writ large. The high-octane energy of their shows, those fire-on-all-cylinders introductions – the fun – is channelled from the stage directly to the core of their new music. 

The first statement of their ambition was “American Adrenaline”: a song that gleams on the surface, kissed by the California sun and melodies that fizz like sugar in champagne – but there is a duality to it, a world of substance beneath the surface. The artwork, a cheeseburger stacked high, sticky with mustard and ketchup, might entice those with the hunger for it; look again, and in a different light, it’s nauseating, a tower of grease and greed. It’s this critical frame of thinking, to look beyond what we are spoon-fed, that lies at the core of “American Adrenaline”. They begin painting a scene of white beaches, mountain peaks, endless highways and rose-tinted liberty, but within that lies the paradox: “What will it cost me? / The land of the free”. It was written with state-of-the-world disgust, an interrogation of political superpower and its glaring faults through the lens of someone who wholeheartedly wants to believe in its promises. “We wanted to talk about the falseness of this idyllic world that we are told exists,” explains Daniel. “They tell you that if you work hard, you deserve these things, but the game is rigged against you,” adds Jim. “Yet the character in the song is still hopeful: ‘Tell me it’s the real thing’.”

This new direction, dazzlingly pop-driven, was welcomed by their audience who – despite the band’s concerns during their absence – sold-out their rehearsal shows across London and Manchester. Their arsenal of anthems, including the groove-driven “Wasteland” and the sparkling electric of “Make A Difference”, are ready to be heard just as KAWALA intended: with everyone together on the dancefloor. 

What remains constant, even in this chapter of rapid evolution for the band, is their sense of hope. “We’ve always written self-help music for our pals,” laughs Jim. The song “What’s Up” unspools like a daydream - even in its simplicity, it’s bigger, brighter and fuller than ever before. It’s a gentle check-in with a friend, an attentive act of care. But KAWALA has never shied from uncomfortable truths. They make a conscious decision to stand in the sunlight, even if it means a shadow follows them. “Time Slipping Away”, with its runaway country-leaning riffs, can distract you with its vibrancy; there is an underlying anxiety about life as an endless treadmill, trying to keep pace with your ambition, but the chorus insists, “If we want it, we can get it.” Even on “These Days”, though they tell a story of four walls, paper planes and nine-to-five boredom, they have their gaze fixed on the weekend and the summer sun.

With a tour supporting Bombay Bicycle Club already chalked off at the beginning of the year, alongside joining Giant Rooks across Europe, opportunities have been restored to KAWALA after the pandemic derailed their plans. The demand for their sound has only intensified, and even in the face of self-doubt, the band have earned the unwavering belief that they are exactly where they are supposed to be. “We’re capable,” Jim attests. “We’ve learned to trust ourselves, and we’re convinced this is the best thing we’ve ever done.”