Natural Child – “Smokin In The Kitchen”

No strangers to choogle, Natural Child slipped out a stinger late in the day yesterday (appropriately 4/20,) capturing end of party vibes with “Smokin’ In The Kitchen.” Sautéed in the deep amber hues of the ‘70s, the song leans back into groove, then douses the hook in horns and some funk-fried organ and piano. The band captures the essence of the kind of deep cut classics that were built on their ability to cradle the listener in ease rather than hit ‘em over the head with hooks. Not that the cut doesn’t burrow under the skin — it does — but it’s impossible not to feel the packed atmosphere and dense fog of a party winding down in this cut. That half-dozy, half pul-an-all-nighter feeling is very familiar; the last holdouts somehow always congregating in the lamplight of the kitchen, stoking the embers of the party long past its tenure. The new single also heralds a new album, Wooden, out May 22nd.