by Lyndsey Parker for Yahoo!Music
“My fans have been extremely patient, and if I could do anything to reward that, I’d like to,” American Idol Season 7 winner David Cook tells Yahoo Music’s Reality Rocks, referring to his past lengthy recording hiatuses between releases. “They waited four years for [the 2015 album] Digital Vein, and I promised them at that CD release party that I wasn’t going to make them wait four years again. I’m inclined to keep that promise.”
True to his word, Cook just started working with his longtime engineer/collaborator Andy Skiv on a new EP, due this fall on Cook’s label Analog Heart Music via INgrooves. And fans don’t even have to wait till fall to hear the EP’s first single, “Gimme Heartbreak,” as Yahoo Music is thrilled to premiere the gritty, garage-y track today.
“Musically, it’s been extremely different,” Cook says of the song’s darker, rawer direction — which brings to mind the stripped sound of Royal Blood and the Black Keys, although Cook specifically cites Nine Inch Nails’ recent output, Mutemath, Massive Attack, and Norwegian indie-pop songstress Aurora as major influences on the forthcoming EP’s “dark and edgy and moody” sound.
“Especially in the last couple of years, like anybody who listens to music, I don’t just like one thing — so I’ve really tried to dive in headfirst to the more dark, cinematic stuff,” Cook says. “I feel like there’s… I don’t want to say ‘heavy-handed,’ but there’s a medium-handed influence on the new stuff, with that kind of vibe.”
Cook reveals he actually has two EPs in the works — a release schedule, unencumbered by the restraints of a major label, that will keep his music coming at a more regular pace and thus keep his diehard fans happy. He says back when he was signed to RCA, he was “the king of overthinking,” always wondering, “Well, we could go back in and change that…” However, with “Gimme Heartbreak,” which was recorded only a month and a half ago, “The energy that’s on that track, it’s locked in. I don’t have the chance to go back in and ‘perfect’ it, which is good, because I think that’s when you kind of lose that energy.”
Cook adds enthusiastically, “I hope people give the new music a listen. For me, it’s always a challenge to top the last record, but I think we’re headed in that direction. I definitely feel this EP and this single are something special.”