Labels: Expect Candy
Review by: MH
This album is brilliant – I have stuck this on at least once a day since hearing it for the first time a couple of weeks ago. As soon as the riff kicked in on opener “Intelligent Lovers” I was hooked. This is such a great song and one of my favourites of the year so far – love the leading riff, the drive and the melody on this one. She maintains this high standard throughout with no filler – such smooth, sweet vocals too.
That really should have been the conclusion for my review but I thought I’d stick it up there early so there is no doubt as to what I think of this.
Kim Baxter is from All Girl Summer Fun Band and this is her first solo album although she has a band in tow here. This is essentially an indie pop record but with plenty of variation, reverb and brilliant songs. There is also a touch of shoegaze and a slightly rough sound to the guitars and I am reminded of the likes of Belly, The Breeders and even a bit of Belle & Sebastian while listening to it. Some of the songs are nice, slow numbers and there are neat guitar and synth riffs which lead a number of them. There is plenty of melancholy and while this is a bit early for the UK summer I think it makes for ideal summer listening – it’s brilliantly infectious. I need to pick out the sadder “Oval Frame” towards the end too as it is a fantastic song. This one is slow, introspective and sparse before it bursts into a noisier ending. I really can’t say enough good stuff about this record – it’s one I keep restarting to play again once I’ve listened through.