Thursday, December 4, 2008

The kindness kind review

The Kindness Kind
A Novel
Reviewed 11.8.07


Somewhere, floating around the vast sonic universe, swirling in a maelstrom of music, culture, and storytelling, can be found the Kindness Kind's album, "A Novel". Pulling in elements from every corner of the musical spectrum, they've created an album as diverse as it is brilliantly put together. Think of vocals reminiscent of Metric blended with Blonde Redhead, the almost classical quality piano of Muse, the dream-like aqueous aspects of Thrice's "The Alchemy Index", and the delicately engineered sounds and noise construction of Radiohead's "OK Computer". Yes, I'm well aware that sounds like a complete mish-mash of completely opposing genres and sound-styles, but they pull it off incredibly well.

Musically, a good portion of the album was slowly lulling me into a sort of musical trance. I found myself sitting on my bed, eyes gently closed, slowly swaying my head as dream-like melodies pulled me through a variety of mental states and images. It is their ability not only to create these soft, carrying melodies, but also to incorporate a variety of (seemingly) computer generated sound effects and other noise variations which strongly bind the songs together. In addition to that, Alessandra Rose's powerful yet eerily wavy and melodic voice is what truly lifts their sound to a higher level. She seems to have the concept of power and timing down pat, and knows exactly when to use what style. The song "Roadmaps and Guidebooks" (which, on a sidenote, is by far my favorite on the record) demonstrates this perfectly, as her voice begins the song slow and dreamy, building slowly up in a bright crescendo, blossoming into a powerfully driven rock voice in the latter stages of the song.

I actually found myself at a loss when trying to compile a list of critiques of the album. Every time I'd begin to pick a point out where I thought a change was in order, I'd listen to the same track again and I found myself realizing they had already done what I was thinking of. The only even slight issue I had with the album as a whole was the transitions between some of the more varied song styles. It works well throughout most of the album, and everything seems to be pieced well together logically but there are a couple instances, for example, the transition between the much more abstract "Roadmaps and Guidebooks" into the much more generic indie-rock song, "Midnight Flights", where the transition seems to be too much, too fast. The listener expects a change of lanes, and instead find themselves on a completely different road, which left me slightly baffled upon my first few listens.

The single aspect of "A Novel" that drew the greatest portion my attention on first listen were the intro, interlude, and outro tracks (if they could be labeled as such). They provide an interesting transition between concepts and help tie the album together as a singular entity. In essence, if the record is the multi-course meal, they are the palette cleansers than ready one's ears for the next course.

However, musically, there isn't even the slightest of hiccups in "A Novel". For me, it's the type of album that requires being in a certain mental place to listen to, but once I find myself in that mood, I seem completely unable to put this record down. It is solid from start to finish and is definitely one of the better whole albums I've heard out of the Northwest this year. You'll find yourself putting this CD into your car, or boombox, or iPod, or whatever you play music with, and simply letting it play again once it finishes. Just when I think I'm ready to listen to something else, the next song begins and I realize why I'm still listening.

Songs to keep an ear on: "The Rain Came Late", "Street Song", and "Roadmaps and Guidebooks".

Reviewed by: Brian Anderson

No comments: