Kyle Craft
Full Circle Nightmare

Sub Pop Records has once again had the foresight to sign one of the names destined to be talked about more than others over the course of this year 2018 and probably in the near future as well. I'm talking about Kyle Craft, born in 1989, in Shreveport, Louisiana, but based in one of the culturally rich cities like Portland, Oregon, where he worked on the recordings of his new album with the collaboration of producer Chris Funk of the Decemberists. "Full Circle Nightmare" will be released on February 2nd and is the ideal follow-up to its predecessor "Dolls of Highland," released in April 2016. It is an album that Craft himself has described as autobiographical and focused on events that have somehow changed his life over the past two years. Ideally, he chooses to stay away from any political content with the intention of making an album that steers clear of the surrounding historical context and is recognizable for its absolute artistic value.

A choice that might seem like a sort of "pose" but one that fully confirms Craft as a true pop artist in the most classic sense of the term. His sound, after all, is absolutely captivating: clearly inspired by classic artists of the '60s-'70s pop-rock scene, he alternates accessible and enveloping rock and roll riffs ("Fever Dream Girl," "Belmont (One Trick Pony!!!)," "Fake Magic Angel"), honky-tonk ("Exile Rag," "Heart Break Junky"), and that glam attitude clearly inspired by David Bowie as in "Gold Calf Moan," which constitutes his main trademark. Here and there, he poses as Mick Jagger ("The Rager"), or Van Morrison ("Slick & Delta Queen"), or Elton John, Marc Bolan... Apparently, he succeeds in everything, even when with "Bridge City Rose" he offers a kind of southern rock with typically made-in-USA orchestral arrangements.

"Full Circle Nightmare" is an album that has been studied in every detail and recorded with a true band instead of the previous work, on which Craft predominantly worked alone in his hometown of Shreveport. Growing up singing in the Baptist church choir, Kyle Craft is a romantic and at the same time melancholic artist who combines the cheekiness of the New York Dolls with a sensitivity and an androgynous beauty: he may not easily win your favor, but there is no doubt that this guy indeed has the qualities befitting a true pop star.