Customer Reviews

Dead City Sunbeams

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Lamenting the loss of the great London-Irish band Rollerskate Skinny (whose two albums, Shoulder Voices and Horsedrawn Wishes, if combined and edited into one cd with the best 12 songs would be one of my desert island discs), here's my remedy. Dubliner Ken Griffin, now solo from RS, emigrates to NYC and has his own album to do. While his former bandmate Jimi Shields (brother of Kevin of My Bloody Valentine) develops the thicker RS sound with his dazzling neo-psych band Lotus Crown, Griffin sticks to a sparser style. Griffin's voice, shorn of his RS bandmates' more eccentric backing, heightens the U2/Echo comparisons. Not that KG's exactly straightforward. His talent lies in twists and turns. Incorporating touches of hip-hop, rap, and electronica into the r-and-r mix, the sound can be a bit too spare in places. As if he imitates Bono's vox and released his backing-track home demos. Yet, by the time the album spins round to Layabout Superstars, he captures the lush poetry of RS while striving to move forward into a more contemporary vibe. I wish the production could've benefitted from a bigger budget and a denser texture, but nonetheless, in its own wistful vocals and meditative lyrics, it shows that KG's ready to keep channelling his own musical muse.

This is a beautiful psychadelic album. Lush layering and abstract super-creative melodies. HorseDrawn Wishes was a soundtrack to my life for a while-this album has the same sense of passion and validity. Great orchestrations. Inspiring lyrics. Bravo!!

really excellent album, BEWARE: if you liked rollerskate skinny, prepare yourself for something a little different (but just as tasty). NICE ONE KEN!

I heard about these people when a friend of mine brought the CD back from the US.Even though I never heard their brand of music before it did nt matter, I have become an instant fan. Kid Silver have the raw materials to go all the way whether they like it or not. They have an excellent sound, they have good material and a huge partisan following. Unlike a lot of modern music, this is as real as it get's. Just buy the record.

I heard about these people when a friend of mine brought the CD back from the US.Even though I never heard their brand of music before it did nt matter, I have become an instant fan. Kid Silver have the raw materials to go all the way whether they like it or not. They have an excellent sound, they have good material and a huge partisan following. Unlike a lot of modern music, this is as real as it get's. Just buy the record.

Kid Silver is Ken Griffin from Rollerskate Skinny. It is hard to describe the exotic strains of this album. Symphonic, Middle Eastern, hey, it reminds me of Echo and the Bunnymen at times. Ken also mines the Bono vocal vein on a few songs, although his compositions sound nothing like U2. Ken even sounds like Donovan on occasion. It's clear that he's a bit of a chameleon, both with his vocals and ther mercurial nature of his music. Danceable beats underscore a great percentage of this album, but I wouldn't call this electronica. Dead City Sunbeams throws out rays from many different types of music and provides the listener with a unique auditory experience. Highly recommended.

this is music for those yearning for something new. defies description and category....melodic, moving, symphonic....like the title, both hopeful and holding despair....

This has some definite highs and some definite lows. There are some great tracks on this disc, including 'Racing Daylight', which has this fabulous retro 80s sound, reminiscent perhaps of Echo & The Bunnymen, or Modern English. But other songs seem to just wander out into the weeds and get lost...with too many lines that just go 'la la la, la la la' for my taste (I'll admit, a pet peeve of mine - c'mon folks, at least write some lyrics if you're going to sing, and save the la la la for Christmas carols). I agree with other reviewers that the vocals sound a bit bono-esque. Not that this is necessarily a good nor a bad thing.