Sunspells Release New Single ‘Koko’

Back in August, I had the absolute pleasure of speaking to indie band Sunspells. With their luminous music built from infectious guitar riffs and drum beats, they have created a nostalgic indie sound, which is due to continue to be showcased with the release of their new single Koko on 16th October 2025.

Consisting of brothers Ollie and Eddie Taylor, and newer members Brandon Tew and Freddy Lindal, Sunspells have three singles out already: Daisy Chain, Kepler, and When I’ve Gone Wrong. Daisy Chain is a firm favourite of mine, with the catchiest guitar riff that will play in my head all day, and a chorus that you can’t help but sing along to. Funnily enough, it seems to be the favourite of everyone in the band too.

“It felt like we really stumbled across something that was like, ‘yeah, this really feels like us’,” explained Ollie.

Freddy, who joined the band earlier this year, added: “it’s kind of what got me onto these guys and made me reach out.”

Koko will be their newest release since January this year.

“This next one is a concept track, basically,” said Ollie. “It’s about Koko the gorilla that did sign language. Im very much an ape enthusiast, which is kind of why I pushed for this to be done.”

Sunspells have a lot of concept songs, in fact.

Eddie explained: “we have one that’s about space exploration, there’s one about our cat. El Capitan is about Alex Honnold.”

Just from listening to the first 30 seconds of Koko, I immediately loved it. The low riff at the beginning left me quite uncertain of the tone that the song was going to take, and therefore made me want to keep listening.

The vocals and lyrics created a jangle pop vibe to the single; so uplifting and catchy from the first moment the lyrics are sung. And when the chorus is reached, you know it’s going to be an earworm, but one you won’t want to get rid of! I keep catching myself singing under my breath, “wish I could be Ko-ko, Ko-ko…”

But my favourite part is definitely the bridge: an audio clip that I’m assuming comes from a documentary or news clip describing what gorilla Koko was being trained to do. It reinforces the retro sound that has been apparent in all of Sunspells’ music, whilst also actually giving context of what the song is actually about.

I’m really impressed with Sunspells’ new single! Their creativity really shines through in their music, and I can appreciate how each song has its own sound, but can still collectively reflect the band’s vibe. I am beyond excited to see what they have to offer us next!