Kids Return - Time Travel on 1997

French indie duo Kids Return have just dropped 1997, a kaleidoscopic sophomore album that feels both like a love letter to decades past and a vivid snapshot of the present. Nostalgic yet forward-looking, 1997 doesn’t just revisit musical legacies—it reshapes them into something strikingly now. If you’re a fan of shimmering guitars, cinematic storytelling, and melodies that feel like memories, this one’s calling your name.

From the jump, the Paris-born pair—Adrien Rozé and Clément Savoye—hit you with the title track ‘First Choice’, a song that doesn’t waste a second easing in. It’s youthful, immediate, and drenched in golden-hour optimism. Think Britpop on a sunny day, washed in the beachy hues of '60s power pop. But there’s more beneath the surface than nostalgia: “It captures the impulsive, carefree nature of teenage love,” say the band. You’ll believe it after one listen.

If ‘1997’ is the high school summer we wish we all had, ‘My Hero’ is the heartbreak that followed. A soaring tribute to someone lost, it’s raw and revelatory, carried by a feverish rhythm and that unmistakable Parisian melancholy. The accompanying video, directed by longtime collaborators Alice Gariépy and Tara-Jay Bangalter, stars rising French actress Céleste Brunnquell, grounding the track in raw cinematic emotion.

Elsewhere, ‘Time to Time’ lays bare a more jagged edge—what the band calls “the rawest song we’ve ever made”—while tracks like ‘All Yours Now’ and ‘Teenage Dreams’ explore different shades of love and loss, never slipping into cliché. The latter takes a gospel-fueled detour into the complexities of friendship and forgiveness, split between bitterness and acceptance in a bold two-part structure.

Side B opens with a swagger on ‘Who Knows?’, a sultry groove with an infectious bassline that channels rainy-night cool. If you're not dancing, you're definitely swaying. Then comes ‘Welcome To My Life’, a slow-burn anthem with storytelling that feels lifted from a John Hughes movie—refined with the help of Australian collaborator Sasha Frantz. By the time you hit ‘Perfect Lover’, the emotional and sonic threads of the album have tied together into something dreamy, erratic, and entirely authentic.

But 1997 isn’t all light and warmth. Tracks like ‘So Good Alone’ and the closing epic ‘The Seattle Boat’ give space to solitude and contemplation. The latter especially feels like drifting into the unknown—equal parts farewell and fresh beginning. It’s the perfect closer for an album about time, memory, and motion. “We love the idea of ending the album with a farewell, yet one that feels like the start of something new,” Kids Return explain. That sentiment lingers long after the final notes fade.

Tirade’s Favorite Tracks - All Yours Now, Teenage Dreams & So Good Alone