There\u2019s a certain golden tint to West Coast rock, a sunny vibe that manages to infiltrate even the darkest work of forebears like Brian Wilson, Jackson Browne, and Rumours<\/i>-era Fleetwood Mac. One result is that when new blood comes along to plow this fertile ground, the end product can feel oddly familiar even when it\u2019s entirely original.<\/p>\n
There are no covers on this album, and no oiled-and-tanned Wilson brothers or bright-and-brooding Lindsey Buckinghams hiding in its grooves, but LA-based singer-songwriter Kimon Kirk offers one subtle nod after another to each of the above forebears over the course of his second full-length album Altitude<\/i>. An experienced session and touring bassist\/vocalist who\u2019s worked with the likes of Aimee Mann, Sarah Borges, Lori McKenna, Amy Correia, and Alejandro Escovedo, Kirk steps out front here to present a dozen originals while fronting his own five-piece group on lead vocals and rhythm guitar. The fact that Kirk and his band\u2014Lyle Brewer (lead guitar), Jamie Edwards (keys), Jim Haggerty (bass) and John Sands (drums)\u2014recorded this album in the Boston suburbs feels like it has no bearing at all on the record\u2019s sound and feel, which is loose and sharp all at once, and decorated with glinting melodies.<\/p>\n
Opener \u201cEvergreen\u201d sets the tone right away with dreamy, rather Wilbury<\/a>-esque strums over a unhurried rhythm section, developing into a supple melody supporting a clever, rather Buddhist lyric about embracing patience, co-written with Amy Correia and Aimee Mann. A concise electric solo puts the cherry on top, and then we\u2019re into album highlight \u201cTrampoline,\u201d a bouncy country-inflected power-pop number with genuine snap to the rhythm and bright harmonies from co-writer Sarah Borges. Clavinet adds some grease on the lower end of a mostly sunny arrangement featuring another tight bridge and solo. Kirk\u2019s easygoing yet self-assured lead vocals remind of a Michael McDermott<\/a> or Matt Nathanson<\/a>.<\/p>\n Kirk follows that emphatic one-two punch with a series of engaging vignettes. The mid-tempo \u201cStranded\u201d sets a scene with novelistic precision, lifted by a breezy groove and melody and a lush vocal arrangement that reminds of Fountains of Wayne when they get serious (a point of reference that comes up again in the cerebral cleverness of \u201cFailed Myopic\u201d). \u201cI\u2019m stranded,\u201d sings the pensive Kirk, \u201cStranded in my head.\u201d The airy, slumbery-cadenced \u201cWhat Do I Know\u201d builds to a powerful chorus that feels like a mantra: \u201cWhat do I know \/ I know love \/ I know peace \/ I know love \/ I know grief.\u201d<\/p>\n Later highlights include the pairing of \u201cBaby Who Knows,\u201d a sinuous, rippling earworm of a single featuring breathy vocals from Kirk and honeyed harmonies from co-writer Aimee Mann, with the boldest rocker here, the four-on-the-floor \u201cThe Girl I Used To Know,\u201d whose brooding verses are punctuated by a giddy bar-band rave-up chorus.<\/p>\n Kirk\u2019s introspective side comes out more strongly on quieter numbers like the daydreamy \u201cI Think Of You,\u201d whose atmospherics include spacy electric strums, a looming synth wash, and gauzy, echoey vocals. \u201cThere\u2019s a narrowing of purpose in the altitude,\u201d he sings, \u201cA sharper sense of focus than might otherwise be viewed \/ I feel a certain oneness with the multitude \/ And I think of you.\u201d When Kirk goes this direction\u2014as he does again later with the gentle, bluesy ballad \u201cHalfway Right\u201d\u2014his warm, piercing intelligence reminds a bit of Jean-Paul Vest of Last Charge Of The Light Horse<\/a>.<\/p>\n Kirks wraps things up with a visit to \u201cMy Old Neighborhood,\u201d opening with warm acoustic strums that feel like close cousins to the Eagles\u2019 \u201cBest Of My Love.\u201d \u201cYou lied when you said we would never get old,\u201d he declares, adding that \u201cI\u2019ve learned to mistrust what\u2019s familiar,\u201d among other sharp observations about the quicksand of nostalgia. <\/p>\n Singer-songwriter albums inevitably hinge on building that inimitable connection between artist and audience. The core question being asked is almost always the same: can you relate? The answer in this case is, absolutely. Kimon Kirk\u2019s Altitude<\/i> shines a golden melodic light on the darker corners of the human soul, beguiling the listener onto a higher plane. It\u2019s a combination of penetrating intelligence and unapologetic catchiness that\u2019s rare, but shouldn\u2019t be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":34233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[10606],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-46066","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-kimon-kirk","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46066","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\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=46066"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=46066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}