At the end of the bands last world tour frontman Kelly Jones considered quiting the band because he had no inspiration to write new music after feeling burnt out on the road. He said "Our last gig of the world tour was September 2018, in Brooklyn – I was done, had written no songs, nothing new, I thought I felt like quitting." Instead of quiting Jones spent some time with his family and he got some ideas for new songs. "Then by November I had a load of songs that just came through me, lyrics just filling up pages, no crossings out, complete songs formed. They became a very open and to be honest, bunch of really vulnerable songs about things I hadn’t quite worked out for myself, the songs began to inform me how I was feeling. I didn’t know, or really mind if others wanted to hear them or like them, I just needed to get them out of me." First single, 'Fly Like an Eagle' was one of the first songs to be written for the record. Jones said "I feel it covers a lot of ground on the record and the line came, ‘Wanna fly like an eagle, and dare to be reborn’ – not in a religious sense, but it’s about changing and growth, and learning not relying on the comfort zones of your life. And as people we all morph into new and different versions of ourselves. We don’t have to stay the same." 'Hungover For You' was written in a hotel in Scotland before the band headlined TRNSMT festival in 2018.
Release and promotion
Artwork
The album artwork for Kind is a drawing of a tree by Jones’ eldest daughter Bootsy. The booklet for the album also features two paintings, 'I Just Wanted The Goods' by Steve Goddard and 'Moon' by Misty Jones.
Formats
The record was released on five major formats, including: standard CD, deluxe CD, vinyl, cassette and digital download. The deluxe CD features a bonus disc which contains demo versions of six of the songs present on the album. Kind was issued on three different vinyl editions, standard black vinyl, pink vinyl and on picture disc.
Singles
On 15 August 2019 the band debuted the song "Fly Like an Eagle" on Radio X and released the official music video for the track. The video is an emotionally affecting coming-of-age tale, which was shot by Charlotte Regan and stars Charlie Creed-Miles. On 18 September 2019 the single "Bust This Town" was released. An official video was released for "Bust This Town" on 30 September 2019. The video was directed by Kes Glozier and follows two lovers on the run, who build a love nest in a derelict manor house. In November or December 2019 the third single "Don't Let the Devil Take Another Day" was often played on most radio stations like BBC Radio 2 and was scheduled to be released.
Reception
Critical response
Kind has received mixed or average reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 60 based on 4 reviews. Susan Hansen of Clash Music gave the album 8 out of 10 and said "‘Kind’ signifies some of the band’s finest work released to date."
Commercial performance
Kind topped the UK Album Chart giving Stereophonics their seventh number one album, selling just under 30,000 in its first week, including just over 3,000 copies on vinyl. On 27 December 2019 the album was certified Silver in the UK for sales of 60,000.
