KIDS IN GLASS HOUSES

Pink Flamingo (Family Recipe)

It’s almost exactly a decade since Kids In Glass Houses broke up, with a final show on Halloween 2014 in Cardiff. However, following a reunion last year to celebrate the 15th anniversary of debut album Smart Casual, the boys are back in town with Pink Flamingo – their first album for 11 years – and it’s glorious. 

Anyone expecting a reprise of Smart Casual or its 2010 followup Dirt will be disappointed: Pink Flamingo does not rely on past glories, but pushes the Kids In Glass Houses sound to new heights. Album opener and lead single Theme From Pink Flamingo is an anthem about getting older, whilst Change Your Mind is a yearning romantic song. 

The south Wales five-piece are fully wearing their wide ranging influences on their sleeves. Have A Good Time is a Prince and Fame-era Bowie tune wrapped up in a Kids In Glass Houses bow; Vulnerable sounds as if it could be taken from Harry Styles’ Harry’s House album, and the 1975-esque Cold Night is an album highlight. There ought to be mentions, too, for the smooth (and again Prince-evoking) ballad Flowers In The Rain and the gorgeous, slightly heartbreaking stylings of A Ghost To Live With.

Pink Flamingo is not the sound of a band who want to rehash what has come before: it’s the sound of a band returning with their best album in a long time pushing their sound to new exciting places whilst retaining the magic that made Kids In Glass Houses special in the first place. 

words JOSHUA WILLIAMS