Spotlight On... The Little Kicks

The Little Kicks may be the title of one of the funniest episodes of Seinfeld, where Elaine Benes tries to liven up a party with a rather embarrassing dance move, but it's also the name of a group of mainstays of the Scottish music scene. This Friday sees Aberdeen five-piece The Little Kicks release their fifth studio album, People Need Love. It's a record which beautifully balances upbeat rhythms with raw stripped-back lyricism, finding frontman Steven Milne at his most vulnerable, with the record written in the aftermath of the birth of his first child and the passing of his own father.

Ahead of the album's release, we're delighted to bring you a first listen of People Need Love below (click here if it's not displaying correctly), and we catch up with Milne to find out more.

You started recording People Need Love in 2019, so it’s been a long time in the making. With the extra unplanned time, did anything change on the record from those early recording and tracking sessions?
After the initial tracking in June 2019 the guts of the record were down and we went back for several sessions in the six months after for additional overdubs, vocals, synths etc; it was quite sporadic but it worked well. Even before COVID came along, any of those follow-up sessions were distanced from one to the next due to Paul [Savage, producer] being quite busy with several other production commitments.

I don’t remember poring over mixes too much in-between those sessions; with the studio being so far away from home, the option to tweak or obsess over things wasn’t there. We could take our time and usually when you returned to the studio to listen fresh, things that maybe bothered you on first listen weren't a big deal anymore, and mainly you would just get excited about where Paul was steering us to.

When COVID came along we were one session short of finishing and it felt like a genuine concern that we would never get back. In the grand scheme of things there were more important things to worry about at that time, but I was delighted when we returned in Autumn 2020 to finish things off and I'm so happy with how the final record sounds.

You must be excited for people to finally hear this record, which must feel like a labour of love more so than previous records you’ve put out? And not just because of the time it took, but because of the themes covered. Can you tell us more about the years leading up to writing People Need Love?
For sure, five years is a long time between albums... It’s a huge thing to finally be releasing this one; it still feels new to me and I can’t wait for people to hear it. At the same time, some of the themes on the LP are much more personal for me than on previous albums, so it also feels a bit funny that people are now going to hear it too.

In 2017, shortly after our last LP, I had my first child then my Dad passed away. We were very close and it was a sad, weird time. To be a new Dad and have the option for my Dad to spend time with my son taken away was hard. The band were meant to be on a writing break in 2018 anyway but I was really struggling with everything and wasn’t writing much.

In the past when [I've been] down or stressed the things that pulled me out were running/exercise, or a night out, but I can go too far. I fully lapsed into some old bad habits like over-exercising and counting calories again (On and On), and then drinking too much at the weekend, which is covered in Another Night, Another End. These are things I still struggle with constantly and it feels weird to talk about but I don’t think I am alone in that struggle and maybe someone else may get comfort from hearing me say so.

I feel like once I got the song People Need Love off my chest, which is specifically about my Dad and the grieving process it was somewhat therapeutic as it allowed me to move back to other ideas and more upbeat thoughts and themes.

Despite some of the record’s more difficult topics, there’s a lovely balance of light and dark across the album, with Dracula, On and On, On and On and On, and Communicate a glorious mid-album run and a beautiful example of this. What was the process like to create this balance? Was that something Paul Savage from Chem19 had a hand in? What was it like working with Paul?
I’m really glad you think so and appreciate that. To me, Dracula is just meant to be a very fun disco song and Paul (who loves pop music) was totally on board with the idea. His mixing reference points were things like ABBA, Cerrone, Talking Heads or Roxy Music, and the idea for that song was it should sound a bit like a synth-led 70s movie theme or something.

For On and On and On the emphasis is completely on fun and I hope that comes across. It came from me realising if you play the On and On chords as a house piano song it’s actually quite cool. The band were keen in the room to jam it out and Paul had the production skills to do things like help Scott [Kelman] layer the jazz drum breakdown, live tape echo effects and mix all the builds and arrange the parts to give it life. With the other tracks being a bit darker, it felt good to have [tracks] like these to offset and balance the record.

Communicate was a short piece that we felt worked as a really quiet pared-down song that could act as a short breather in the middle of the record. The approach was to mic it super close to hear every sound, the stool, foot pedal etc, so that it’s like the piano and I are literally in the room with the listener,  I guess a bit like Nils Frahm or Paul Buchanan’s solo work.

Working with Paul was an amazing privilege and as you can imagine I could talk about his process in the studio for days but he is also just a really kind, encouraging person. He isn’t pushy but somehow guides you to your best performance and always prioritises what is best for the song... It was a real honour to be in that studio and spend time with him. I truly hope this album flies so we can go back – everyone please buy it!

As with 2017's Shake Off Your Troubles, the Cairn String Quartet feature once again on People Need Love. You’re going to be performing with the quartet for your Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow dates – what can we expect at those shows?
I love the sound of strings in music and I think hearing them live is going to be very emotive and be the cherry on the cake for the live shows we have with them. When they did their parts in the studio, we were blown away by what they added to the sound, and considering their current engagement is to be on tour with Biffy Clyro I am staggered they have agreed to come and play with us.

For the shows with them we will play the album in full preceded by a short set of our 'hits' and guest support. For the other shows we'll be playing more of a mix of the best of the old with a fair chunk of the new record. I am equally excited about both, autumn can’t come soon enough.

What's next for The Little Kicks?
We've been invited to play a couple of dates abroad next spring so that’s something we are looking into putting together. On top of that, I would hope we can get onto some festivals as that’s always good and we are keen to get back out there and let people hear us again. We have some further videos coming out for songs from the record and we'll continue to release songs as singles to push the record into 2023. There has been some interest in getting some remixes done so that is possibly something we will see down the line.

In terms of new material, I have tentatively begun sketching some ideas and thoughts on a direction for the next LP, but that will be informed by the response to this one so I can’t wait to get it out there and to see what people think!

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People Need Love is released on 30 Sep

The Little Kicks play The Arts Centre, Aberdeen, 15 Oct (with the Cairn String Quartet); The Tolbooth, Stirling, 4 Nov; MacArts, Galashiels, 5 Nov; Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, 18 Nov (with the Cairn String Quartet); Bobiks, Newcastle, 19 Nov; Drygate, Glasgow, 24 Nov (with the Cairn String Quartet); PJ Molloy's, Dunfermline, 25 Nov; The Hunter S Thompson, Dundee, 26 Nov

thelittlekicks.co.uk