Simple Kid - 2 Album Review

Simple Kid,
2,
Album Review

Following the release of his debut album ‘1’, Simple Kid decided to take some much needed time out after the pressures of the music industry began to take their toll. Now back revitalised and ready to surf the waves once more, the London based Irish man is back with the appropriately named follow-up record ‘2’ (well they don’t call him Simple Kid for nothing).

The Simple Kid sound consists of bluesy guitar arrangements, ultra-cool drum machine rhythms and pulsating bass with lashings of banjo, organ and synthesised backdrops. The result is a deranged and astonishingly endearing take on folk-pop that if truth be told, couldn’t be any further from simple. The lyrics might be simplistic in the pop sense intended, but with the often Beach Boys-esque and Beck meets Devendra Banhart type vocal deliveries they strangely begin to sound like the best lyrics you’ve ever heard.

The production on this record was the subject of an ageing 8-track cassette machine, and as a result the output is incredibly raw, over-driven and occasionally ridden with hiss, Sounds bad right? Wrong. It sounds fucking great. Rich, beautifully warm and blissfully romantic, who would have thought that these glaringly obvious DIY imperfections would be the perfect antidote to any record?

Enthralling from beginning to end, I actually feel guilty about mentioning highlights (such is the consistency of this record) but I’m going to name them anyway, It begins with the album opener ‘Lil’ King Kong’ which is a bluesy, banjo affair with a massive Beck influence. The blues mayhem continues in ‘Self-Help Book’ which has ‘sing-along’ written all over it, and ‘The TwentySomething’ continues in a similar vein with a chorus to die for. Arguably the biggest highpoint is the intense showcase ‘Serotonin’ featuring some amazing trip-hop beats and warped string samples among an epic soundscape, and if that wasn’t already enough, the beautiful verses & chorus really drive the song beyond your wildest expectations. Last but certainly not least is ‘Mommy n Daddy’ with its brash, distorted bass and crisp, rocking drums and verging on Banhart-like vocals.

In the end, ‘2’ is a mind-blowing masterpiece that should have the likes of Beck, Jamie Lidell & Jim Noir literally choking on their cornflakes. It really is that good. Simple Kid? I think not. This is quite easily one of the best records of 2006.

Colin Burrill