Good Morning!
Today we’re listening to “The Sound of Music” by Kiwi Jr.
Kiwi Jr. is a Canadian four-piece band consisting of Jeremy Gaudet, Mike Walker, Brohan Moore, and Brian Murphy (late of the band Alvvays).
If their 2020 debut, Football Money, felt a bit like a statement record, their third LP, Chopper, finds the band comfortable enough in its own skin to start mixing things up a little bit.
The comparisons between bands like Pavement and Parquet Courts are easy to draw here. Indeed, in my review of the album last month, I noted the following:
Released on Sub Pop this past August, Chopper feels appropriately summery. There are parts of their previous two records that felt a little undercooked. Not anymore. This is also the record where the band decided to really add synthesizers into the mix, with the results being slightly jangly and kinda Parquet Courts-y.
And with lines like, when they pulled you out of the harbour/ you were holding onto a book/then you shoved your screenplay into my chest and said/“won’t you at least take a look?” kinda Pavement-y.
What’s not to love?
Further, it’s easy to imagine Jeremy Gaudet as a graduate of the Stephen Malkmus finishing school. But Chopper is also where the band decided to go all in on synthesizers, separating them from the indie kings.
The band might owe a lot to Pavement, but this isn’t Slanted and Enchanted Part II. Not by a long shot.
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More:
What was slack in the slacker phase, got tauter, with lacquer glaze. Slick gloss, rightened wrongs; murdered boss, promoted pawns. With Boeckner transmitting high-voltage shocks upon every reach for a familiar instrument, Kiwi Jr. expands the palette with string machine song, synthesizered oblong, and Dentyne Classic Menthol vocals from area soprano Dorothea Paas (US Girls, Badge Epoch Ensemble) like the missing piece all along.
Check out the rest of the record’s overview here.
Listen:
“The Sound of Music” by Kiwi Jr. | Chopper, 2022
Click the record to listen on your platform of choice.
As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this track!
Thanks for being here,
Kevin—
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To be honest, I found this song a little dull - until the last 30 second! Gimme more of THAT. But I've tried a few times with Kiwi Jr. and it never stuck.
Thank you for the music. Fun to explore something new. Again.