by Sam Robinson

Seattle ten-piece Kings Kaleidoscope surprised us all this week with the announcement of a follow-up album to their 2014 debut (and our Album of 2014), Becoming Who We Are. Sophomore LP Beyond Control is due for release in June, and the first taste from it dropped Wednesday, named Enchanted.

This evening on my radio show, FRESH Across Australia, I managed to coax Kings ringleader Chad Gardner out of his home studio for an exclusive chat about Enchanted. He explained the track is about life in the kingdom of God:

‘It’s the centrepiece of our next record. It talks about these two ideas: One is that we can live life like it can be controlled, and calculated and manipulated. And the problem in seeing the world that way is that it often is a very sterile and lonely environment. It might feel tame and controlled, but it’s not. The opposite way to see life in the lens of the true kingdom of God is that it’s a wild, spiritual world that we’re living in, where God is the only one in control and we are not… In the chorus I’m calling out, “Break me free to live enchanted, beyond control.”’

He also revealed there’s a surprising piece that pops up in the outro of Enchanted:

‘It takes place over the music of Bach. There’s a song called Sheep May Safely Graze… which goes with the whole idea that we are safe because we have the good shepherd with us… We’re secure but we are also walking into the unknown.’

Chad dropped a few clues about what we can expect from Beyond Control, and said that there’s a bit of pressure on to meet deadlines:

‘I’m literally outside the studio door right now and Jared is down there recording guitar, right now… Let’s put it this way – I don’t have all the lyrics done yet, but let’s just say there’s certain things that have to go to the printer, today. [Laughs] This is is not a traditional record that you’d do with a label where you’d get the record done and it would come out six months later. We’re actively working on this right until it comes out, which is exciting for us.’

I reckon that’s exciting for us who get to hear it too. We also discussed more of the way Enchanted was built musically, why the images on their social media accounts are black, and more about the album. Listen to the whole chat below:

Beyond Control by Kings Kaleidoscope will be released in June.

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