Once in a while, a band comes along that doesn’t just ignore the rulebook, but rewrites it. Since forming in the late 90’s, Kosheen have proved that success doesn’t have to come on someone else’s terms. Fusing the plaintive, potent vocals of singer Sian Evans with the darkly intimate electronica of Darren Decoder and Markee Substance, Kosheen create songs where the sounds tell the story as much as the lyrics while the boundaries of genres are blurred and challenged.
The world agreed they were something special. Kosheen’s compelling, anthemic track ‘Hide U’ reached no. 6 in the UK singles chart, while ‘Catch’ hit number 15 and ‘Hungry’ got to number 13. The accompanying album, ‘Resist’, went on to reach no. 8 in the album chart and made the top 30 in Australia, The Netherlands, Belgium and Greece. It has since sold a million copies worldwide.
Ignoring the accepted protocol that dictates ‘dance’ acts don’t play live, Kosheen then set off on tour and turned their attention to a second album. Enthused by the incredible reception they had received live, they began writing songs they knew would sound great on stage. The resulting record, ‘Kokopelli’, was a hypnotic, intimate collection of songs from the soul. It became the band’s highest charting LP, entering at no. 6 and helped earn them a second Brit Award nomination. Crucially, the music sounded darker and more apocalyptic, while the lyrics of Sian Evans grew more personal as she revealed more of herself.
After ‘Kokopelli’ went Gold in the UK, Kosheen left BMG in the midst of the Sony/BMG merger, signed to Universal Germany (UDD) and returned to the studio, with a new drive and vision and worked on their third album, ‘Damage’, for the next two years. Sonically it combines the electronica of ‘Resist’ and the creativity and darkness of ‘Kokopelli’.
For a period after ‘Damage’ the band were busy with other projects. Darren and Markee, the band’s producers, spent time DJ’ing worldwide and releasing techno as Kosheen DJ’s on labels like 1605 and BluFin as well as their own Skeleton Recordings imprint. Meanwhile, Sian kept busy making guest appearances on tracks for different producers, most notably ‘Louder’ with DJ Fresh, which reached no. 1 in the UK Top 40.
However, parallel to this the band had been working on new Kosheen material and the delay between releases was down to setting up their own label, Kosheen Records. Inevitably their next album was called ‘Independence’. With an ability to turn from deep and intense electronica to lonesome spotlight moments where the technology is stripped away, it was an intensely beautiful and deeply disturbing listening experience and a stellar return, effortlessly mixing genres like dub, drum & bass and downtempo to create their own unique space and time.
The end of 2013 sees a brand new album entitled ‘Solitude’. Markee Substance explains the progression: “’Independence’ represented the band breaking free from some behind the scenes stuff, simply moving on. Therefore the album reflected this upbeat energy. ‘Solitude’ in comparison is darker and more atmospheric. It has a deeper vibe to the tunes.” The process of creation within Kosheen is complex: “’Solitude’ for us has been an on-going process. We are always writing on and off the road. We all have home-studios, and we all work with laptops, so we are constantly able to bounce ideas off each other and in some cases literally capture the idea there and then. We always start with beats first then work on the tunes, in parallel with seeing what ideas for the vocals Sian has. After that we work our magic in the studio and come up with the result.”
As for the title of the album? “Solitude for us, in the context of this album, is being alone without being lonely. It is a positive and constructive state of engagement. And it is a state of mind, where you provide yourself the sufficient company.”
Solitude is released in the UK on 25th November by Kosheen/Membran Records. A single, Harder They Fall, will be released simultaneously.
KOSHEEN will play a London date at O2 Islington Academy on 27th November as part of a European tour to celebrate the release of Solitude.
