Kingsley Flood frontman and bandleader Naseem Khuri writes songs about feeling like an outsider who is looking in. The band’s new EP The Good Fight revolves around themes of society and change in a large culture, an exploration about the social injustice he’d felt growing up (“Good Old Wind”). Set to classic alternative-era roots rock a la Cracker, the songs are acute, razor-sharp tales that delve into the pathways of Khuri’s introspection and psyche. It’s guitar-driven, sing-along music, soaked with raw emotion: “My, my, if nothing has changed you/ Then nothing’ll change you yet.”

Here’s Khuri on the making of the EP:

We recorded these songs in a converted masonic temple in the heart of Chelsea, MA. It’s of a different time — there’s a dark and cavernous live room, symbols on the walls, even some hidden hallways.

I wrote the title track both lamenting this wave of gentrification happening in Washington, DC — and wondering if I’m part of the problem — so it was cool to record in a place that time seems to have forgotten. And cool that we probably got some ghosts on there too.

Listen to The Good Fight in full below, ahead of its release this week.

Kingsley Flood have announced their largest headlining shows to date:
11/20 Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
11/21 Brooklyn, NY @ Rough Trade
12/03 New Haven, CT @ Café Nine
12/04 Washington, D.C. @ U Street Music Hall
12/05 Philadelphia, PA @ Boot & Saddle
12/17 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
12/18 Charlotte, NC @ Evening Muse
12/19 Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle

The Good Fight will be out 11/20.

[Photo by Michael D. Spencer.]