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Rating: August 2011, English in revolt. Mark Duggan is dead, damn it.
English are revolting in the streets of London, English angry about the fate of a fellow countryman, killed by the Tottenham police.
The anger mounts and spreads, it's unsustainable, it's uncontrollable, the anger vents in the streets, taking it out on buildings and the blue people.
A young Sony warehouse, North London area, used by some so-called independent music distributors, falls victim to the anger of the English in revolt.
It is ransacked and burned, unable to save even one of the many little discs it had nurtured for a long time.
The story of our album is already at a crucial point: it, too, along with many little siblings, was blissfully rocked by the Sony warehouse, awaiting its birth date, scheduled for September.
Fortunately, the anger of the English doesn't last more than five days, so, ten days after the fire, the so-called independent music distributors can triumphantly announce "it's all fine, we're okay, we haven't been harmed," and the blue people can solemnly make public the arrest of the alleged culprits.
Cherry on top: new copies of our album appear, many other siblings hidden who knows where.
And so we also have a bit of mythology for the work.
This album certainly needs it, a bit of mythology, and so does this band, because they don't sell a damn thing.
I'm not sure, but I don't think they sell much, after all, no one knows them. Who do you expect to know Kill It Kid?
Alright. Let's start. 10 days 10 songs! One song a day, and this is the result. Feet Fall Heavy. But let's proceed in order.
So... we have a fairly pissed-off drummer who is surely a huge and muscular guy, to hear him play like that; we have a guitar that likes to screech and moan, double itself, slide, and still lead the games, a rather egocentric guitar; we have a light keyboard, a keyboard that likes to refine, correct, specify, a good and friendly keyboard; as for the bass, nothing to say, anyhow there's also a bass, a bass that does its job trying to get noticed as little as possible, also because with such an expansive guitar friend, leading and taking up all the space, there's very little to do.
And then we have the voices, courageous and overwhelming voices, one female and the other male, emanating respectively from keyboard and guitar, voices that intertwine, exchange, and overlap, voices with personality one might say, I believe. Undoubtedly aware voices. The female one is lower, which sounds very bluesy, even if here it often acts like the queen of rock'n roll, even if when it's not merely providing backing vocals and takes center stage, it shows it can rise considerably, as if nothing; the male one is more powerful, almost a roar, practically a roar, indeed probably a roar, a roar that sometimes turns into a lament, a lament that becomes a scream... yes, the male voice screams quite a lot.
10 songs in 10 days, as we were saying. There's certainly not the time of the great bands available, and therefore you have to dive in without too many frills and play. Clear and simple, immediate yet not trivial ideas, like those of the band, definitely help.
But how does the album sound?
Well, I'd say it sounds like Delta blues disguising itself as hard rock, hiding behind the seemingly modern approach, which if you pay attention you'll find here and there, behind the harder rock of some songs as in the slower ones, a blues that certainly refers to its more recent offspring but that remains strongly attached to the past.
The lyrics of the group and also the preachers bear witness to it. I mean the preachers who sound very much like 1930s African American priests heard yelling here and there throughout the album.
For the rest, they indulge in a few whims here and there, to relax the ears, without seeming to, but in reality, this is a hard and solid album, beautiful.
Ah, they are from Bath.
Two interesting links:
Tracklist and Videos
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