Friday, December 12, 2014

Review: kigo- never knowing (single)



Kigo has done it again.For those who did not see my initial post on Kigo, in which I reviewed the last EP, Close (Enough To Kiss), I really dug the band (Dwayne Pearce, this time accompanied by M.L. McDonald on vocals) and their amazing shoe gaze sound. This time around, Pearce has dropped a single from an upcoming 2015 release (super excited btw), and my real favorite part of this release is Pearce as a producer.

With 'Never Knowing', the fuzz on the guitars is pulled back just a little bit, which lets the other voices in the mix shine. I love the drums and vocals here, and the dial down on the guitars may even enhance the palpable dreamlike and hazy textures. I love the consistent guitar chord pattern to this song, which is very calming and meditative, yet has some drive and momentum as well. It's this duplicity that really makes the track stand out; it has that calming effect, and yet it has such a presence that it can't be ignored.

'Not So (Now)' is this single's b-side (do they still call those that if it's a digital single?), and the fuzzed out sound here is more consistent with what we've heard from Kigo in the past. The guitar stabs here are pretty amazing, and contrast really well with the very hypnotic and beautiful vocal melody. Again, I have to hand it to Pearce's mixing here. The sound here just seems so full, without sacrificing the dreamy yet noisy quality that this style of music.

Without a doubt, I am extremely happy that I discovered Kigo, as well as Dwayne Pearce's other project, Afterwalker (kind of a black metal nu gaze sound) You should really check that out as well, because their behemoth of a new album was pretty great. They've had a pretty big impact on my perception of music and my life in general, especially within this blog. Mr. Pearce actually shared my post on his previous EP, which I thought was just so amazing and inconceivable. The fact that I was able to reach him and let him know that his music is appreciated was just so great, and really inspired me to keep writing. Also, his post on World Mental Health Day really struck a chord with me. As a fellow individual that suffers from a lot of self doubt and anxiety, I thought it was great of him to speak up for people who deal with these sorts of issues and found it inspirational. I hope this post reaches him as well, so he can know how much I appreciate his art, and to let him know that he matters.

Out of a total of five stars, I give this:



Congratulations on the release of your new single, Dwayne, and thank you for the music. As an American, I'll probably never meet you, but you've been a force for good for me, and probably countless others, and we appreciate that.

Check in later for my year end lists. I'll most likely be doing a top 10 of my favorite albums of the year, a list of projects I'm looking forward to for 2015, as well as a top 10 albums list of projects that I was turned on to this year, or just happened to rediscover in my own collection, and that I couldn't stop listening to for long stretches of time.

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