The debut album from The Kingites on Dave Allan’s Moving Production label is as varied in genre as it is consistent in production.We move easily from dancehall in Triumphant, to rootsy reggae in Notify and Emperor, through the solid funk of Hustlin and Lost Angeles and into the spacey, smooth dub of Kingite Sound System. These are competent, knowledgeable musicians and it shows.
They have intentionally gone for the ‘big’ feel – there is ample use of distant, echoed off vocals and instrumental licks, the drums are tight and clean and big, and the overall reverb gives a feel of a concert setting rather than an intimate jam.
Congruently, the blurb speaks of a broad and large-scale consciousness – corruption, greed, consumerism that threaten the Earth: ‘the songs are a lyrical reminder that the vested interests of the world are still pursuing development at the expense of the community’.
This grandness is ever-present and I can’t help feeling we should hear just a bit more of that ‘community’ feel that is yearned for – perhaps a track or two scaled down in mood and intensity. The homogeny that unites the tracks so effectively also tends to blur them a little. The genre variation is seamless and proficient and if some of this dynamic was applied to intensity and production, the album would jump up a few rungs toward crucial.
Definitely a band to hear live. * * *
Spin Zero
