Kook Joey – “Miracle”

“Miracle” feels like opening an old family photo album and finding a faded Polaroid of your parents before you knew them. They're young, impossibly cool, somewhere warm, having the kind of time nobody thought to explain when they eventually handed you the album. You stare at the photo long enough and suddenly you want in. Kook Joey gives us three minutes to climb through the frame and borrow the memory for ourselves. These weren't our good old days, but “Miracle” makes a surprisingly convincing case that we were there.

Kook Joey calls her world folk-exotica, with a bio that promises “raw honesty and nostalgic, holiday-tinged daydreams.” “Miracle” pushes the latter all the way into pop. There's vintage warmth in the production, a groove keeping everything buoyant and enough modern polish to stop the nostalgia from turning into costume. Her reference points make the time travel easier to understand too: Pet Sounds, ABBA's Voulez-Vous and Djo's The Crux all sit among her stated favorites. “Miracle” is also the title track of her forthcoming third EP, due December 4. Then, at 1:57, a horn solo wanders into the photograph like it had been there the whole time. Nobody move. This is exactly where we wanted to end up.

The lyrics haven't made their way online yet, which only matters because I'm the kind of person who likes having the words in front of me while I listen. For once, maybe the missing liner notes suit the assignment. Some old photographs are better without the date written on the back. You recognize the feeling before you know every detail anyway. “Miracle” has that same strange familiarity, like remembering a very good time that technically belonged to somebody else.