Kitchens Of Distinction
Strange Free World

THE REVIEW

It's never easy for me to understand why sometimes I am struck by albums like this one, apparently "banal" yet it immediately stuck in my head.. the rhythm, the very 80's atmosphere captured me, the singing that will surely remind many here of Ian Curtis.

In 1991 this trio, led by the "frigid" frontman Patrick Fitzgerald, released this album that is essentially a mix between vintage Dream Pop and 90s Alternative. In the previous work, we find some rather forgettable tracks, but in this work, the band carries forward this Dream Pop style through to the end of the album, the sound remains static, the voice almost never exceeds (except for "always corpses at breakfast time" at the end of "quick as rainbows"). This is probably the band's strength, carrying forward such an engaging, sentimental sound that immediately captivates the listener.

I discovered this album thanks to YouTube, at first I was almost in awe... then I realized something... the damn Editors are copying these guys 200%... and in fact, on the internet, the only note about the band is indeed the similarity between Fitzgerald's voice and the vocalist of the Editors (an irony, moreover, since Fitzgerald himself "coined" the vocal style of Ian Curtis).

Notable tracks include "Quick As Rainbows" "Aspray" (it practically sounds like a Smiths song), "Within The Daze Of Passion" and "Drive That Fast". The cover partly recalls "The Great Wave off Kanagawa" by Hokusai (also featured in the P.F.M.'s "Live In Japan").

There's little else to write about this rare album, it's ideal if you are foot fetish maniacs and want to lick your mistress's feet, it's the perfect background (after "Disintegration" by the Cure). The subsequent works are certainly mediocre just like the previous one, personally, I would highlight this one, a great promise not kept?

I would say no, even if they could have done better with subsequent works