Kasabian – Hippie Sunshine Review

It’s been a big day for Kasabian fans. Not only can lovers of the foursome now look forward to the band’s biggest London show to date in Finsbury Park next year, they’ve also been able to get their ears around the first single from the band’s upcoming ninth album, Act III. But any fans hoping the record – set for release in the spring of next year – will bring any novelty might be disappointed by Hippie Sunshine. The Leicester rockers haven’t left audiences wanting in recent years – their most recent album, Happenings, only came out last year, and its predecessor, The Alchemist’s Euphoria, hit proverbial shelves in the summer of 2022. They’ve kept busy between their chart-topping releases, too, including opening for Liam Gallagher at Knebworth in 2022 and, just last year, playing their first homecoming show in eight years at Victoria Park.

Their popularity seems unwavering, as does their quintessential Britpop sound. They’re fun, digestible – and, largely, unevolving. They’re the kind of electric guitar music you could play on a family road trip with no major complaints. They’re inoffensive – dare I say, predictable. Hippie Sunshine is no different, perhaps even uninspiring.

Kasabian established themselves as titans of the British music scene with their earliest releases. Some might argue they’ve been riding the coattails ever since. 2014’s 48:13 was an experimental departure from Kasabian’s norm – earning them mixed reviews – while The Alchemist’s Euphoria, the first album with long-time songwriter Pizzorno at the helm following former frontman Tom Meighan’s departure, saw the boys try their hand at a fun new sci-fi concept. Blink-or-you’ll-miss-it Happenings retained all of Kasabian’s classic charm but offered hope of something new. But while their last two albums have topped charts, it’s still the likes of LSF and Club Foot that fill dance floors and stadiums. Meighan’s leaving was an opportunity for Kasabian to forge a new path, and for a moment, it seemed they might do just that. Hippie Sunshine feels like a step backwards.

The lyrics have the same pallid quality one might expect of your average undercooked Britpop song (‘grown man has not grown up and claims to be gleefully alone as a result and yet has to numb himself with drugs and alcohol’ is becoming a boring genre trope, if it wasn’t one already). And there’s nothing inherently wrong with that. Kasabian are masters of the big tune. The bouncing, catchy riffs of the likes of Fire and Underdog were the sell. The lyrics could happily come second.

Listening to Hippie Sunshine, however, I felt I’d heard it all before – and, even musically, it fell short. Summed up in a word, Hippie Sunshine is forgettable. What Pizzorno and the gang will pull out next spring remains to be seen, and I’m willing – eager, even – to be pleasantly surprised. For now, however, I’m not excited. I hold out hope that Act III will bring something fresh that we haven’t seen from Kasabian – maybe a brand new floor-filler, or at least a new memorable guitar motif. But for now, I won’t hold my breath.