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Fake Laugh talks us through his excellent debut album

The self-titled collection is out today (28th July).

28th July 2017

Fake Laugh - aka singer-songwriter Kamran Khan - is releasing his debut album proper today, an excellent self-titled collection of bright, colourful indie-pop.

Produced by Theo Verney and released via Headcount Records, the record is full of hazy, brilliant lo-fi gems. “I wanted to make a point of writing more traditional and direct songs” Khan explains in a press release. “I wanted to make sure that every part I wrote for each instrument was as melodious as possible. That sort of super satisfying feeling you can get from music sometimes is the aim for to me. The challenge is being able to hit that spot.”

Khan has also written us a track by track explanation of ‘Fake Laugh’, so stream the record below and let him guide you through it.

MELT

It’s a pretty obvious opener, given the way the instruments are introduced. The song has a sense of optimism, but one that’s probably a bit over the top and slightly ironic.

SHORT OF BREATH

Short Of Breath is a silly sad-boi lovesong and probably the oldest song on the album, the lead guitars on this recording were done in early 2013 I think.

KINDA GIRL

Kinda Girl seems to be a lot of people’s favourite, it’s probably the strongest on the album I guess in a way. Someone once insinuated that it’s a rip-off of ‘Femme Fatale’ by The Velvet Underground, and to be fair I get where they’re coming from.

AS I GET TO KNOW YOU BETTER

This song is essentially about friendship. The experience of being enamoured with someone, but then learning their flaws and revealing yours to them, and this revealing ultimately bringing you closer together. This is the album’s party jam, a song of friendship for all the people all around the world. Dig in my dudes.

HIDING PLACE

Another very old song, which I guess is about being a solitary being. It was fun filling this one out with pianos and fake strings because it lived as an acoustic demo for so long.

FREELY

We always play this song live, as it’s maybe a bit more rhythmically interesting than the others. It’s kind of about wanting to interact purely with your fellow person, and also spinning about the way your brain works.

YOU WILL FIND OUT

This song’s theme is pretty vague but it’s got a certain desperation to it. We left the instrumentation pretty bare but doubled the bassline with a piano, you can hear the thud of it at the end.

WOULDN’T BOTHER

Another one from the #earlydays here. The lyrics kind of speak for themselves on this one. It might be the clearest example of the juxtaposition of upbeat music and downbeat lyrics on the album.

PHYSICAL

I was fortunate enough to have my friend Soph Nathan come and record the harmony vocal part for this back in 2015. Her voice is beautiful and she’s a legend, so I’m very happy that she appears on the album.

YOU DO KNOW

Probably the newest of the songs on the album, again a fun one to play live. Another song of confusion really I guess.

TIME TO DIE

The title kind of sounds like it might be a death-metal song about being blasted into the afterlife. It’s actually more about the importance and also the difficulty of letting things go. Went with a classic fade-out on this one hehe.

Fake Laugh is set to head out on a UK tour this October. View the dates below. ‘Fake Laugh’ is out now via Headcount Records.

OCTOBER

15 Leeds, The Lending Room
16 Glasgow, The Hug & Pint
17 Manchester, The Peer Hat
18 Sheffield, Bungalows & Bears
20 Brighton, The Joker
22 Bristol, Crofter’s Rights
25 London, Sebright Arms

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