A pristine and professional soundscape creates a trip-hop-like ambiance, a peaceful moment of escapism. Alongside this you get Kenni’s seemingly free-style vocal melody, meandering through the layers, offering personal insight & contemporary references that often feel well-rooted in modern hip hop.
Music
While the title is a nod to modern life, the phrasing, the tech, the search for understanding, what you’ll ultimately find within is a country-rock, jazz-piano-soaked classic – an explosion of organic instrumentation, high energy and nostalgia; enough so to take you way back to bar fights and big bands.
This is something like Americana with a rock edge, a layer of synths, superb story-telling, and a near-gospel style performance – not to mention a hearty hit of big-band, piano-led country swing to see things out
There’s a hint of Rage Against The Machine to this style of performance, a welcomed nod to music’s past, though the UK twang and that classic hip hop confidence help take things somewhere decidedly refreshing.
The love story is tried and tested, known by most and represented vastly in music, but in the case of (this love is) eternal, the whole thing has been given a new lease of life – a new angle, a new manner of expression.
Mashing up spoken word, hardcore, rock, pop and more besides, we are taken by the hand and yanked through a blizzard of exciting changes. The highly intelligent and witty mix makes features out of the shouted word ‘fuck’ one minute and a single delicate tap of the bell of a ride cymbal the next.
Rock Bottom has, at its heart, an epic sensibility that is screaming out to be synced to a film – probably over the end credits. Yep, it’s that good. It might be a slightly quirky take on indie pop, but that’s exactly what indie pop should be. This track is essential listening.
It sounds like an intentional anthem to me: full of aspirational language, flourishes of gospel ad-libbing and a choir of supporting voices adding warming colours that bloom into the arrangement as the piece progresses. Come on, America – you’d better do as it says.
All-in-all, The Rocky Coast of Maine is a stand-alone triumph, fulfilling its own mythology in its own run time. It’s beautifully played, beautifully told and is a haunting testament to folk music songwriting. Lovely.
This music is, by all accounts, the sort of near-trip-hop, meditative experience deep thinkers crave for a little calm & insight. What makes it stand out though, is the organic nature of the instrumentation, and the carefully selected structures that feed certain moments & flickers of soul & passion into the process.
The beautiful vocals on California Sunset mark Art Auré out as an exceptional and singular vocalist. The vocal range on display is highly accomplished, ranging from surprisingly low and intimate to fresh and impassioned, and the different vibrato speeds and incredibly elastic control are also extremely impressive.
Channeling Avici-style vibes, Take Me Back is an uptempo adrenalin-soaked rush through the sort of nostalgia-soaked lyrical adventures that have done very good business in recent years.