Enter Shikari are no strangers to reinvention, be it with their music or within themselves. Throughout almost two decades and six albums, the band has charged fearlessly into the unknown again and again, redefining themselves with each and every release, and their new album, A Kiss For The Whole World is no different. But to Enter Shikari (and their die-hard fans) it sure feels different. Arriving three years after Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible, A Kiss For Whole World marks a bit of a rebirth for Enter Shikari. Recorded in an old farmhouse using nothing but solar power, the album finds the band returning to their roots and is sure to remind fans why they fell in love with them to begin with, all while continuously introducing new sounds and ideas in true Shikari fashion.
Leaning a bit into their drum & bass influences as well as their work in Shikari Sound System, A Kiss For The Whole World hosts some of the band’s most exciting production to date, with songs like the opening title track blending triumphant horns with gritty guitar and glitchy synth and even a few instrumental interludes like “feed yøur søul” and “Bloodshot (coda)” speaking to the band’s true understanding of dance music. Songs like “Leap Into The Lightning” and “Bloodshot” effortlessly march DnB/EDM with pop and post-hardcore in a way that only Enter Shikari seems capable of. Much like any Shikari album, A Kiss For The Whole World is littered with thoughtful little nuggets, both sonically and lyrically, that might take a few listens to latch onto, or might hit you like a ton of bricks upon the first listen.
Lyrically, A Kiss For The Whole World is an absolute masterpiece as well, but if you’ve been listening to Enter Shikari for some time, you’ve grown to expect that. Standouts are the single, “(pls) set me on fire”, which was the catalyst to the magic that you’ll hear on the album, as well as the utterly inspirational, “Leap Into The Lightning” and the introspective, “Jailbreak”, which encourages listeners to break the mold of what people expect of them and what they expect of themselves in powerful lines like, “I won’t be held captive / by my own idea of who I am” and “Question everything, including your own beliefs / and especially your own beliefs about yourself.” “Jailbreak” also includes a great callback to Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible’s “{ The Dreamer’s Hotel }”.
Keeping with the album’s overarching theme of self-exploration and questioning one’s identity are the epic final tracks, “Giant Pacific Octopus (i don’t know you anymore)” and “giant pacific octopus swirling off into infinity…”. The second to last track also calls back to the band’s past (The Spark’s “Live Outside”) while embodying just how much they’ve grown in the line, “I went to live outside to find myself / but when I found truth, it was something else.” While maybe not quite as cinematic as the closing tracks (that fans have come to expect) on The Spark, The Mindsweep or A Flash Flood Of Color, the final tracks on A Kiss For The Whole World perfectly embody the themes of growth, change and redefining oneself that are prevalent throughout the entire album in lines like, “Does anybody even really have a clue who they really are?”. Like many of Enter Shikari’s past releases, listeners will come for their spectacular and exciting songwriting, but what will always make them stay is the content and meaning behind Enter Shikari’s music, and that magic is amplified tenfold on A Kiss For The Whole World.