EDITOR’S NOTE: The <\/i>Cyclical EP came out in 2015; the cover art attached to this review is for the <\/i>Most Definitely EP.<\/i> <\/p>\n
With their dark and intense music and a singer whose heartwrenching singing could easily bring one to tears, avant-garde indie pop outfit Kins was a unique breed of band, and their 2014 self-titled debut was no short of a masterpiece. Despite plans for a sophomore album, the group unfortunately disbanded, but not without leaving us with two EPs that were subsequently released after their debut: Cyclical<\/i> and Most Definitely<\/i>, the band\u2019s official \u201cfarewell\u201d EP.<\/p>\n
Neither EP is as strong as the debut album. The title track from Cyclical <\/i>and \u201cCharlie\u201d (from Most Definitely<\/i>), for instance, lack the grit of the debut album. The songs on the debut album that transformed into long musical jams \u2013\u201cAbsblurd\u201d and \u201cAimless\u201d \u2013 never once seemed meandering. However, the same cannot be said of Cyclical\u2019s <\/i>\u201cLittle Dancer,\u201d which starts off brilliantly but strays along the way, turning into a needlessly fraught cacophony of instruments jamming. It feels as if the band is trying too hard to create melodrama.<\/p>\n
Compared to the guitar-dominated debut record, the adoption of a more electronic-heavy sound on both the EPs shows that Kins was trying out new things with their music for the next release. In comparison to the big drums on their debut, the minimalistic electronic beats on \u201cYoung\u201d (from Cyclical<\/i>) pair fantastically with its biting guitars. The brooding and pulsating synths on \u201cJ. Tio,\u201d along with its deliberate beats, result in a gentle and meditative track that is as potent as the band\u2019s fiery guitar rock numbers.<\/p>\n
Although catchiness was never a selling point of Kins\u2019 music, it is good to see the band creating songs like the title track and \u201cStop, Repeat, Stop\u201d from Most Definitely<\/i> that are instantly catchy, more so than any other Kins song. The combination of danceable hip-hop beats on \u201cStop, Repeat, Stop\u201d with singer Thomas Savage\u2019s rhythmic repetition of the words \u201cstop, repeat, stop\u201d is like Kins attempting to make music for less sophisticated ears, but making a brilliant song out of it in the process. \u201cMost Definitely\u201d is edgier, with the usual Kins-like style of pounding drumming and gloomy industrial synths. The song\u2019s attacking music, along with the almost mindless repetition of the chorus that involves the word \u201cfuck,\u201d makes this creepy number about loneliness instantly addictive.<\/i><\/p>\n
Cyclical<\/i> and Most Definitely<\/i> might be weaker than Kins\u2019 debut album. But both these EPs still showcase the inimitable and amazing band that Kins was. In a farewell note on their Facebook page, Kins states that they hoped that they might have helped inspire some of their fans to take up an instrument or start a band with friends. These are pretty lofty words for a band that has only one proper album under its belt, but Kins is just the kind of special band that can inspire such a thing. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":33186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[9338],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-44995","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-kins","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=44995"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=44995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}