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| Track list: 1. When I was a Thief 2. Round & Round 3. Will You Wait for Me 4. Billows Roll 5. Since We've Fallen Out 6. Hang Dog 7. Helpless to Turn 8. Supermoon 9. All of This in Writing 10. Inushuks Running time: 35 minutes Released: 2016 |
This one almost sneaked by me. It took an email from Amazon trying to flog me crap I didn't want as the headline to bring it to light (so I guess the mail outs work, eh?), and only after I had already ordered KC's Astronaut Meets Appleman which is coming in September. I recognised the name of collaborator Michael Johnston from The Burns Unit, and two of the tracks here are re-recordings of tracks from Side Show. Do I expect this to blow me away? No. Do I expect some sort of KC magic in here to make it worth the purchase? Oh yes.
The opening strains are an understated piano and a noodling guitar melody before Kenny's voice breaks in, that faltering, emotional delivery a defining element of why I love King Creosote. The instrumentation is a little light, but there is some playing with effects, of distance and volume of space. It is a slow and reflective song, not stellar and a touch dry in the composition, but performed in a familiar manner that enables me to forgive those weaknesses where, for other artists, I surely would not.
It has been too quiet on these pages this month. A 3 week dearth of posting brought about by weekends away, the plethora of sport on radio, TV and online with the Olympics. I've also been less than 100% mood-wise of late, which is surely another factor. It'll be good to get back into this, maybe it would help with the mood things to do so. Now the summer games are behind us, though the summer weather only just arrived or so it seems, and I have to force myself to pick up the baton again. Round & Round starts much as When I was a Thief left off, but then almost instantly grows a bit more. There will be more backing here, the noticeable percussion giving that away instantly. Unfortunately the vocalist is Johnston not Anderson and, whilst I rather like the simple rhythm and low key piano melody there is something missing here. Even when KC pipes up I am less than taken with the overall effect of the track. It might be a grower though. I have mentioned plenty of times before that composing these posts based on first exposure is not ideal in that respect; plenty of music takes some time to bed into our consciousness before we really appreciate it.
In addition to mood issues, I am shattered having failed to sleep well the past two nights. Sunday night was no surprise as the start of a new week often does that I find, but last night knocked me for six. Good job I'm working from home tomorrow, though I have to organise both tradesmen and travel over and above my normal duties. Alas.
Will You Wait for Me has a tinge of Americana to its opening, something about the twang to the guitar that then fades in significance as the tune develops. It is slow again, nice piano again, but underwhelming again. There are moments of harmony between the two guys, but I cannot really say I find the meshing of their voices that exciting, and the Canadian's vocals are not nearly as compelling as the Scot's. Too little arrangement in the tune to capture me tonight. I am far from averse to stripped back tracks but these are a little too soporific in my strung out state. I really like the opening piano on Billows Roll but it loses some lustre the longer it goes without anything else to support it. By the time KC's tones are added, singing a strained, frail line, its a little too late. I like the melody, I like the vocal, but there is so much missing.
Now we hit the first Burns Unit re-recording. I am doubtful that these versions will be better, but only because I love both Since We've Fallen Out and Helpless to Turn in their first released forms. There Kenny duets with female vocalists, and the contrasting vocals and a lusher arrangement add depth to the tracks. Here we get a piano and guitar failing to build the right sound, and a lack of a second voice to set the lyrics off. The same pained lyrics are there, the same emotional rawness, but not the magic that wove them into a compelling track. With a bit more tempo to it, despite still being stripped back and low key, Hang Dog feels like a change. This is welcome as it was all getting a little disappointingly one-note. There is eventually the same piano and guitar core combination that has underpinned all the other tracks here but there is a different tone to the vocal as well as the higher pace. It is the tune I have enjoyed most other than the opening number.
Helpless to Turn sounds much more like the Burns Unit version in terms of arrangement, but like Since We've Fallen Out it misses the female vocal. It is a fabulous song though, and the clarity of the keyboard part here is nice. That said, I find that all it does is make me want to go dig up Side Show and listen to the wondrous way KC and Karine Polwart intertwine their voices. This rendition is also really short and ultimately ends up unfulfilling by comparison with the memory of the prior form.
Clarity of keys is the primary feature of Supermoon too. A tempo reminiscent of Hang Dog, a melody very King Creosote in note but played on an instrument he doesn't use much himself. I quite like this one, and then the penultimate number sounds like it could have come from From Scotland with Love, a bit brighter in tone. This too is welcome - a peppier tune even if the subject of the song is typically KC bleak or self deprecating. It ends by devolving into chanting and clapping though which is a little odd. Then we get an odd little 50 second ditty to close the disc. It's punchy but pointless.
Pointless would be harsh, but not necessarily unfair as a summation of this work based on first listen. I adore King Creosote, and will acquire what I can of his on release no questions asked because there are real gems buried in the immense mountain of material he puts out. I will listen to this more before finalising any judgments, because its only fair to give the tunes a chance. However this work is lacklustre on first exposure - a few tracks stand out but none of those come close to the heights I know one of these two can reach. Maybe more time is needed to grasp the subtleties and find the magic within.
The opening strains are an understated piano and a noodling guitar melody before Kenny's voice breaks in, that faltering, emotional delivery a defining element of why I love King Creosote. The instrumentation is a little light, but there is some playing with effects, of distance and volume of space. It is a slow and reflective song, not stellar and a touch dry in the composition, but performed in a familiar manner that enables me to forgive those weaknesses where, for other artists, I surely would not.
It has been too quiet on these pages this month. A 3 week dearth of posting brought about by weekends away, the plethora of sport on radio, TV and online with the Olympics. I've also been less than 100% mood-wise of late, which is surely another factor. It'll be good to get back into this, maybe it would help with the mood things to do so. Now the summer games are behind us, though the summer weather only just arrived or so it seems, and I have to force myself to pick up the baton again. Round & Round starts much as When I was a Thief left off, but then almost instantly grows a bit more. There will be more backing here, the noticeable percussion giving that away instantly. Unfortunately the vocalist is Johnston not Anderson and, whilst I rather like the simple rhythm and low key piano melody there is something missing here. Even when KC pipes up I am less than taken with the overall effect of the track. It might be a grower though. I have mentioned plenty of times before that composing these posts based on first exposure is not ideal in that respect; plenty of music takes some time to bed into our consciousness before we really appreciate it.
In addition to mood issues, I am shattered having failed to sleep well the past two nights. Sunday night was no surprise as the start of a new week often does that I find, but last night knocked me for six. Good job I'm working from home tomorrow, though I have to organise both tradesmen and travel over and above my normal duties. Alas.
Will You Wait for Me has a tinge of Americana to its opening, something about the twang to the guitar that then fades in significance as the tune develops. It is slow again, nice piano again, but underwhelming again. There are moments of harmony between the two guys, but I cannot really say I find the meshing of their voices that exciting, and the Canadian's vocals are not nearly as compelling as the Scot's. Too little arrangement in the tune to capture me tonight. I am far from averse to stripped back tracks but these are a little too soporific in my strung out state. I really like the opening piano on Billows Roll but it loses some lustre the longer it goes without anything else to support it. By the time KC's tones are added, singing a strained, frail line, its a little too late. I like the melody, I like the vocal, but there is so much missing.
Now we hit the first Burns Unit re-recording. I am doubtful that these versions will be better, but only because I love both Since We've Fallen Out and Helpless to Turn in their first released forms. There Kenny duets with female vocalists, and the contrasting vocals and a lusher arrangement add depth to the tracks. Here we get a piano and guitar failing to build the right sound, and a lack of a second voice to set the lyrics off. The same pained lyrics are there, the same emotional rawness, but not the magic that wove them into a compelling track. With a bit more tempo to it, despite still being stripped back and low key, Hang Dog feels like a change. This is welcome as it was all getting a little disappointingly one-note. There is eventually the same piano and guitar core combination that has underpinned all the other tracks here but there is a different tone to the vocal as well as the higher pace. It is the tune I have enjoyed most other than the opening number.
Helpless to Turn sounds much more like the Burns Unit version in terms of arrangement, but like Since We've Fallen Out it misses the female vocal. It is a fabulous song though, and the clarity of the keyboard part here is nice. That said, I find that all it does is make me want to go dig up Side Show and listen to the wondrous way KC and Karine Polwart intertwine their voices. This rendition is also really short and ultimately ends up unfulfilling by comparison with the memory of the prior form.
Clarity of keys is the primary feature of Supermoon too. A tempo reminiscent of Hang Dog, a melody very King Creosote in note but played on an instrument he doesn't use much himself. I quite like this one, and then the penultimate number sounds like it could have come from From Scotland with Love, a bit brighter in tone. This too is welcome - a peppier tune even if the subject of the song is typically KC bleak or self deprecating. It ends by devolving into chanting and clapping though which is a little odd. Then we get an odd little 50 second ditty to close the disc. It's punchy but pointless.
Pointless would be harsh, but not necessarily unfair as a summation of this work based on first listen. I adore King Creosote, and will acquire what I can of his on release no questions asked because there are real gems buried in the immense mountain of material he puts out. I will listen to this more before finalising any judgments, because its only fair to give the tunes a chance. However this work is lacklustre on first exposure - a few tracks stand out but none of those come close to the heights I know one of these two can reach. Maybe more time is needed to grasp the subtleties and find the magic within.
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