ANALYSIS & REVIEWS
|
This is the debut album of the four-piece (almost) girl band Kenickie from the UK. Yes, they had that video aired a couple of times entitled "Millionaire Sweeper". And they're at a major label... so further work was obviously easy. I bought the CD when I was on the journey to my and my family's holiday on Jersey (so, as you can guess, it was rather boring), to be exact, I got it from a CD store in London's Gatwick airport. There, this CD seemed to be quite promoted, although outside the UK I haven't really ever the CD under something like "hot new releases". Anyway, picking up the CD, you'll notice that the artwork is pretty, uh, how should I put it, uninspired. Just photos and photos and photos, did I mention photos? But I had found it and I kinda took the plunge into the Kenickie world. And it was worth it. The album starts off with "In Your Car", which has a simple chorus: "Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah" - but well-chosen, if you see through the rest of the song - "You're really alright, though you can't tell by looking" - it's sorta, well, ironic. And this irony is constantly there throughout the record. The main issues the lyrics deal with (Do I now sound like a politician?) are things like "I can smell the sweet smell of success on your breath" (from "Millionaire Sweeper"), "We're gettin' drunk in the park" (from "Come Out 2Nite"), "We've got class, we've got style" (from "Classy") and "I think that everyone looks better when they're sad" (from "Brother John"). You get the idea. But what about the music? Well, of course the more or less loud guitars are always present, but what really makes this album so impressive and so "Oh I want to listen to it all the time!" are the really great harmonic pop-like melodies. Don't be scared. No, it's not just your three-chord guitar pop song, Kenickie really know how to write cool catchy tunes and they do it very good. And they also don't forget to put enough power in them to take you away, even the synthesizers aren't really kitschy but just augmenting the mood, as are the well-arranged passages of two or three voice vocals. For example, "People We Want" is, if you regard the chords, rather simple, but there's a heap of great melodies, and if you add the way the song builds up from its ballad appeal until it finally explodes, you have a great great tune. It's the same with "Classy", which musically is I think my favorite, a fast, loud, even a bit punk-inspired three-minute-song masterwork. And the last song, "Acetone", is even a nice mellow acoustic ballad where lead singer / guitarist / keyboardist Lauren gets to show that she can also play cello. Stefan Hauschildt |
