The Kooks have shared ‘Compass Will Fracture’, the latest single from their forthcoming album Never/Know, due 9th May.
The track finds the band in reflective, psychedelic-leaning territory. “It’s about the times we live in now,” says frontman Luke Pritchard. “How sometimes things can feel backward. There’s so much confusion circling around… like a compass that’s pointing all over the place.”
That image gives the track its title and its restless energy. A heavy, driving verse gives way to a softer, questioning hook: “Where did I find my mind this time? It was written in the books I read, that no one really knows what love is.” It’s a line that captures the song’s broader mood of unease, both personal and generational. “The kids can get so caught up in that,” Pritchard adds. “There’s pressure to get it right.”
The band recorded the track live, and the studio take carries a sense of looseness and urgency. “It was quite a special moment… We did it all live: there was something spooky about it.”
‘Compass Will Fracture’ follows March’s ‘Sunny Baby’, which earned praise from The Times and regular play on BBC Radio 2. Both tracks lead into Never/Know, the band’s first album since 2022’s 10 Tracks to Echo in the Dark, and a record that finds them revisiting the emotional highs and lows of their early sound while drawing on a wide palette of new influences.
The Kooks recently announced an arena tour for October, including their biggest headline show to date at London’s O2 Arena.
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