Here at the Send Me Your Ears studio today, we’ve been listening to Kingfisher’s latest single, Until I Lose My Mind, due for release today, January 13 2023.
Kingfisher, based in Sweden, are Julian (from Colombia), Nich (from Italy) and Affe (from Sweden). Until I Lose My Mind is the third single from their forthcoming second album, Macondo.
Until I Lose My Mind grabs your attention immediately with some lovely stereo palm-muted guitars in the intro. The vocals come in almost straight away and have a great doubling effect on them.
The dynamic soundscape of this track takes you on a wonderful journey with the rise and fall throughout the song demanding your attention. We love how the song builds and the drops back beautifully for the second verse, making it even more exciting with the full band bursts back in. Kingfisher manage to do this several times throughout the song – a superb breakdown section leads to a huge crash back in with the full band sound and we particularly liked the little handclap which led to a bigger section as well.
We absolutely loved the offbeat hi-hat work: very intricate and demanding for the drummer and used to create the perfect late 80s/ early 90s pop feel. There’s a definite touch of Franz Ferdinand’s influence here.
The stinger ending is a nice touch and makes the listener want to hit repeat for just a little more of this Scandinavian indie rock goodness!
Ideas from our ears
A small cut around 100Hz would reduce the occasional dominant tone coming from the bass. A small cut in the 1-1.5kHz range would bring down some slightly ‘honky’ tones too. A small but wide boost around 4-5kHz would increase the presence and definition. A single band compressor in the top 2 octaves with some make-up gain would add to the brightness without increasing the sibilant sounds coming from the vocal track. Finally, a light compressor/limiter with maybe 3dB of make-up gain would add some extra overall volume. As always, these are just some ideas from our ears.
Final thoughts
For fans of Franz Ferdinand and 90s indie rock, Kingfisher’s, Until I Lose My Mind is a thoroughly enjoyable listen. We look forward to hearing more from this talented Swedish-based band.