The KVB announce 2022 North American tour dates

The KVB have announced 2022 North American tour dates supporting their new album ‘Unity’ out now via Invada Records (order / stream). The upcoming tour will make stops in major markets such as Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Boston, Chicago and includes performances in Los Angeles at Cruel World Fest at Brookside at the Rose Bowl. Tickets for all upcoming shows are available here.

The UK-based band just released the official video for their latest single Unbound which was directed by Sapphire Goss. The video for the haunting-yet-euphoric track can be seen here. On the video Post-Punk says, “The fascinating clip explores this sound play with a fantastically creative approach, working off the band’s radiant guitars, textural synths, and ear for a moody, brooding melody, this results in a song that echoes shimmering light and haunted shadow in both sound and vision.”

Produced and mixed by Andy Savours (Black Country New Road, My Bloody Valentine, The Horrors), ‘Unity’ is The KVB’s most potent and immediate record yet represents an exciting development in the band’s sonic journey. Brooklyn Vegan says, “For a band that identifies as coldwave, The KVB have delivered a warm, inviting album for a brave new world, that has fond echoes of the past.” Across the album’s ten songs, The KVB masterfully pull together all their trademark components; radiant guitars, textural synths and an ear for a moody, brooding melody all presented here with a renewed dynamism. 

The initial writing sessions for the new album ‘Unity’ took place in Spain in early 2019, where the duo found influence from “half built luxury villas, still unfinished from the crash in 2008. There was something eerie and beautiful about the desolate landscapes and concrete in the sunshine.” There has always been an element of dystopia through their sound, but now there is also more of a rapturous release. 

Throughout the album lyrical themes combine double meanings and a sleight of hand is present; Le Corbousier’s brutalist ‘Unité d’habitation’ informs the title track and via the French-to-English translation ‘Unité’ becomes’ Unity’ – a rallying cry to totality on the dancefloor. Unbound is informed by the classic shoegaze stylings of Slowdive and Ride but also late-modern poet Keston Sutherland and the idea of recreating a special moment lost to the past. 

Beginning with a blast of electronic drums, lead single World on Fire instantly kicks in with a euphoric blend of guitars and synths beneath Nicholas Wood’s and Kat Day’s breathy-yet-powerful vocal duet. Lead single Unité is built around a pulsing synth arpeggio that wouldn’t sound out of place on Trans Europe Express, but is augmented by detached, deadpan vocals and dream-pop sonics. 

‘Unity’ track list

1. Sunrise Over Concrete 
2. Unité 
3. Unbound
4. Future 
5. Blind 
6. Ideal Living 
7. World On Fire
8. Structural Index 
9. Lumens
10. Omni

Blending reverb-soaked shoegaze with minimalist electronic production, The KVB’s music reflected Nicholas Wood and Kat Day’s mastery of atmosphere even as their sound evolved over the course of the 2010s. Early releases such as 2012’s debut album, ‘Always Then,’ dealt in brittle beats and sonic blasts that evoked Cabaret Voltaire and the Jesus and Mary Chain in equal measure, but the duo’s style became more streamlined and sharp-edged on later efforts such as 2018’s ‘Only Now Forever’. 

Formed in 2010 by singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Nicholas Wood as a solo project, The KVB got started with a number of limited cassette and vinyl releases before vocalist/keyboardist /visual artist Kat Day joined Wood in 2011. The band have released several critically acclaimed albums and EPs over the last decade before signing to Invada Records for their last album ‘Only Now Forever’. 

Having toured extensively, the band have amassed fans far and wide including the U.S., China, Russia & Japan before lockdown offered an opportunity to relocate from Berlin to Manchester to work on new music.

The KVB tour dates

05.03 – Philadelphia, PA @ PhilaMOCA
05.04 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Made
05.06 – Cambridge, MA @ Sonia 
05.07 – Montreal, QC @ TBA
05.08 – Toronto, ON @ The Garrison 
05.10 – Chicago, IL @ The Empty Bottle
05.11 – Cleveland, OH @ The Grog Shop 05.12 -Detroit, MI @ The Sanctuary 
05.14 – Pasadena, CA @ Brookside at the Rose Bowl – Cruel World Fest
05.15 – Pasadena, CA @ Brookside at the Rose Bowl – Cruel World Fest