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He's got a groovy thing going, baby...the first two songs would make a great single in
the mold of Baby Ray, whom he’s most likely a big fan of – not that there’s anything wrong
with that! His voice is air worthy (maybe even sponge-worthy) in an Elvis Costello sort
of way. The third song, "Happy," alack, doesn’t float our boat at all – it’s
too long and under-dynamic. The A-side, "What’s Today" is charming in its
adolescent-oid isolationism as well as in its somewhat naive and yet slightly sinister and
suicidal way – it’s rife with irony you could cut with a knife – and is that a riff from
(the strangely newly popular) "Baba O’Reilly" lurking in the arras? Musically,
the song is brilliant – the bouncy rhythmic and percussive line is ably complemented by
the painfully jaunty vocals. The follow up, "Hide Your Head," has a fine bass
bottom and a wonderfully hook-rich rhythmic guitar line which can’t help but evoke our
interest, and the song’s overall structure is complex and interesting. We’re inspired.
We were also thinking about how much we like XTC’s epics "Jason and the Argonauts"
and "Travels in Nihilon," and about how these tunes are pretty much cast from the
same sort of mold. It’s almost impossible to choose, but "Hide Your Head,"
with its ascending harmonies in the vocals, gets my pick for Song of the Month, with
"What’s Today" a very close second. Call (617) 381-6995. Visit:
www.kevinmacdonaldband.com.
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