Fake Laugh

Whilst perpetually in tune with the digital disconnect of contemporary life, Fake Laugh's self-titled album is a vivid rummage through sixties US-pop standards and British alternative stalwarts. Fake Laugh showcases a familiar world of love, confusion, and self-questioning, refocused through the bright lens of the London/Berlin based artist Kamran Khan. Tirelessly writing and recording whenever he can, a busy 2016 saw Khan release the energetic Ice EP, the bubbly trepidation of double A side with Mind Tricks/Birdsong Lullaby, and the more complex and serene Great Ideas EP (2016). All three were important steps towards manifesting the right combination for this eagerly anticipated debut. Khan confesses that once upon a time, Fake Laugh was "a bit of fun on the side". However, now with the project his sole focus, there's a revitalized commitment to recording that has seen him finishing the album in 2017. Reuniting once again with producer Theo Verney (Traams, O. Chapman) in Brighton, Khan has brought the intimacy of his bedroom and added it to a more luscious environment. Certain parts of the record date as far back as 2013, whilst others were recorded only just months before the album's release. The result is a record that flows with a wise but youthful abandon. Echoing latter Belle & Sebastian records - that retained their adolescent flare and longing - Khan has fortified his dreams rather than forgotten them.