Kevin Krauter Announces New Album Full Hand, Shares Dreamy Single/Video “Surprise”

Indiana-based indie-pop songwriter and Hoops bassist Kevin Krauter is back with his second solo record, Full Hand, which he’s extending on Feb. 28, 2020, via Bayonet Records. Marking the 12-track album’s announcement is the release of a very pleasant “Surprise,” Krauter’s latest single/video.

Despite its pretty dream-pop sheen, “Surprise” is a song of rude awakenings. Over gauzy guitars and shimmering synth clouds, Krauter acknowledges the mixed bag that is this life, nonchalantly singing, “Sometimes I feel like a guilty pleasure / Sometimes it don’t feel like pleasure at all”—later, he quips, “Going to hell, guess they killed me with kindness.” Meanwhile, in the song’s accompanying video (directed by Jake Huber, and conceptualized by Krauter and Grif Williams), Krauter shows up in suburbia, struggling through the mundane day of a 9-to-5er and only living out his indie-rock dreams as a byproduct of repeated blows to the head.

“‘Surprise’ is basically about having my illusions broken down in various, sometimes blunt ways and having to deal with that fact,” says Krauter in a statement. “This process can often be painful and confusing but can ultimately lead to a simpler understanding of my life and how I can find peace through it all.”

“Surprise” is the second track to surface from Full Hand, following summer standout “Pretty Boy.” The new album follows Krauter’s solo debut Toss Up, released in 2018 during Hoops’ indefinite hiatus—the band reunited in November, sharing their first new song since 2017 and teasing more to come.

“A lot of the lyrics [on Full Hand] touch on how I was raised religiously, touch on me understanding my sexuality more and more in recent years,” Krauter explains, “just growing up and becoming more confident in myself … that process of looking inward and taking stock of myself.”

Watch the “Surprise” video below and find the details of Full Hand further down. You can preorder the album here.

Full Hand Tracklist:
01. Intro
02. Opportunity
03. Patience
04. Surprise
05. Kept
06. Intermission
07. Pretty Boy
08. Piper
09. Full Hand
10. Treasure
11. Green Eyes
12. How

Full Hand Album Art: