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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
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