Kowalski - Outdoors

Buoyant organs and glistening, reverb-soaked guitars help Kowalski’s ‘Outdoors’ to achieve the sunny alfresco feel that the title suggests. A meandering bassline, indie disco drums and lead guitar as wonky as the inebriated alpha-male commanding the barbeque, all lend to a rather jovial air.

Singer Lewis Price’s thick Northern Irish vocals add extra charm, but it’s the warm yet breezy tone of the guitars that make you want to dance around your gazebo wielding a bottle of ice cold beer.

The downside to its breezy feel is that it almost blows over without a striking chorus. It’s centered around an extremely simple melody and the vocals take a back seat, or deck chair in their case. Regardless of their intentions, you can’t help but feel this could have been a real festival hit if it had an infectious sing-along chorus.

‘Outdoors’ could have swept by with little more than a coy jig, but thankfully it’s saved by a blissful climax, which showcases their shiny and sparkly indie manifesto. Kowalski clearly have a great sound but they need to dig a little deeper to really show it off. Get the bucket and spade out boys.