If you’re not familiar with the work of Omaha-born and Nashville-based musician Alec Koukol, you’ve got time to rectify that before he puts out something more substantial. His third album as Safari Room is in the works, billed as a sonically expansive update on the sounds established on its predecessors. In particular, last year’s sophomore record Complex House Plants proved the project had legs after Look Me Up When You Get There was released four months into the pandemic.
The timing wasn’t great, but Koukol made it work, and we’re closing in on three years since then with a new Safari Room chapter ready to be written. There’s plenty more where this came from, but the opening track from the new album is as appealing an invitation into the project’s world as you could ask for, a propulsive indie-rock track with satisfying crunch. There’s a real sense of forward momentum to it, in keeping with the song’s themes of progress and dedication.
According to Koukol, it had to be this song first: “‘The Great Outdoors’ set the tone for recording Safari Room’s third album. It paved the way for the rest of the record, in its conceptualization, tracking process, and character. It felt only right to release ‘The Great Outdoors’ first—giving listeners the same open door this song gave me, musically, into this next bulk work."
With that new album out later in the year, now’s as good a time as ever to get on board.
