In stark contrast in energy is ‘Hands’, a brutal rock onslaught with visceral drumming, punk bass, and a lot of ethereal effects, and reverb coating the soaring vocal melody. The vision of the songwriter is perfectly intact thanks to these sensitivities. The drums make a gentle splash at all the right moments, whilst the guitar adds to the main vocal melody without distracting from it. It’s one of the most sedated cuts in feel, yet it in its bleakness comes a haunting quality that shows Moss deeply connected with the words she delivers, there’s so much sincere emotion that all the band appear to lock into the mood of what’s going on. The next stand out is, ‘Wounded Wing’, a duet between singer Liela Moss and Mark Lanegan – who needs no introduction. The track now gets played at clubs all over the world, giving the band, who are less well known than they deserve to be, some decent exposure. Lavelle evidently feels the bewitching melody and lyrical competence are worth his time and he's made a spell-binding remix that appears on the deluxe version of Kin. As has James Lavelle of UNKLE, who had the band record a track for his album back in 2007. Together it works a treat.Įspecially strong is opener ‘Blue And Yellow Light’. Drums are at the forefront, as are dense vocal melodies, effect-laden tremolo guitar, and gritty bass playing that would work in a Queens Of The Stone Age affiliated band. They've managed to create powerful rock and tender ballads without needing to rely on the guitar riff as a means of expression - energy simply oozes out of their every move. The thrill of being a band again with an arsenal full of ideas means it's a lot more focused. Kin also comes across as more convincing than Bruiser because the band don’t appear to be caught between chasing a more sophisticated slickly produced sound and being a gritty rock band. The sound captured here transcends the imitable Sonic Youth/ Velvet Underground/ PJ Harvey styling of their earliest material that thrilled listeners looking for some respite from the Maximo Parks and Franz Ferdinands that were ruling the roost at the time. Within three weeks they had laid down ten tracks that easily stand out as their career best. After The Duke Spirit finished touring their last album, Bruiser, they took over two years off to focus in other projects.Īnd when they came back together early last year to record Kin ,something special evidently occurred. It’s a deep, highly personal catharsis, a document of my experience.Time out from the band is sometimes one of the most creative and rejuvenating things to do. This album is a bipolar album, it was written in the rare and exquisite moments of intense creativity that comes in an almost complimentary way with the highs and lows. Like many bipolar people, creativity is central to my life, central even, to my illness. This album is a musical representation of what it feels like to experience the extreme states of mind that characterise bipolar existence. I know about these things as I am bipolar. A malody is a melody that expresses mental malaise, mental illness and deep sadness or its opposite, mania. The album is based around my first instrument, the piano, and also features violin, cello, double bass, tenor and baritone sax, pedal steel and trumpet.”ĭiscussing the album’s themes, Barry explains : “What is ‘malody’? Malody is a word I have invented, derived from the words, melody and malady. ‘Malody’ couldn’t be further away from that. Says Barry: “Those of you familiar with my work with The Futureheads may be expecting an album of new wave inspired, four-part harmony, guitar music.
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