New York, NY (Top40 Charts) K's Choice is back with a new full-length album, The Phantom Cowboy, out Friday,
September 18 on the New York-based label MPress Records, with digital and physical distribution via Independent Label Services, which is partnered with Caroline Distribution and Universal
Music Group. The Belgian brother/sister duo of
Sarah and Gert Bettens deliver the most honest, gritty, straight-ahead rock album of their career, as made evident in the first single "Private Revolution," out now on iTunes.
For The Phantom Cowboy,
Sarah and Gert approached the creative process differently than their previous projects. Typically, they each develop ideas independently and then present them to each other for further input; this time around, however, the two chose to write together. "Since we wanted this record to have a very specific direction, we thought it would be fun to experiment with being in one room and feeding off each other,"
Sarah explains. "It turned out to be a great decision." Gert adds, "With just a handful of ideas and no songs, we basically started from scratch, and what hasn't really worked for us in the past turned out to be the perfect decision this time. Sarah's cozy basement studio seemed the perfect muse as the guitar riffs and lyrics flowed."
Watch the music video for the commanding track here.
K's Choice--rounded out by Reinout RJ Swinnen (keyboards, backing vocals), Tom Lodewyckx (guitar), Bart Van Lierde (bass) and Wim Van Der Westen (drums)--teamed up with producer Alain Johannes, also an accomplished musician in bands Them Crooked Vultures, Queens of the Stone Age and Dave Grohl's Sound City Players.
With Alain's help, the music quickly began to take shape. Says Sarah: "I actually thought there was no theme to this record lyrically and then I looked at the list and started thinking about the subject matter of all these songs and there's such a longing for 'realness' both in my brother's lyrics and mine." She adds: "There's a lot in there about being true to yourself and daring to push forward when you feel like everything around you is trying to hold you back. I find myself caring less and less what people think of me, especially strangers, and that reflects in almost every song I've written."
The first single, "Private Revolution," cuts especially deep.
Sarah explains, "It talks about being hit by certain realizations in the course of your life. Things can hit you hard and they can come out of nowhere and I think a lot of happiness lies in learning to navigate the inevitable and long list of changes and adjustments."
Since forming in Antwerp, Belgium in the mid-nineties, K's Choice went on to receive widespread international success, earning several Top 10 album positions for their LPs, including Paradise In Me (1995), Cocoon
Crash (1998) and Echo Mountain (2010), which went straight to the #1 position in Belgium and landed them a top 5 in the Netherlands. The band's big break came in 1995 when they released "Not An Addict," a single that brought international fame and still, even 20 years later, receives radio airplay.
