Music is all about time. The right
time more often than not.
At the moment I have 'time'. It’s hasn't always been like that but circumstances sometimes throw you the freedom to think
and do something different.
Time is on my side - If I could turn back time - Hit me baby one more time - This time (more than any other time)
And when time connects with ideas then
things become magical. You see (well hear) there’s so much sound out there. And when our ears align with the
sounds of the underground, from the garages, the box room rebels and the cupboard
pioneers then their melodies and words can lift our days and hit us right in the
heart. All these genres emerging over time and rolling over one another – boundaries collapsing and
sound taking over in fits and starts and change. This great body of sound
pushing and moving on across centuries and cultures it's bound to have an impact.
And when you have time you make
things.
And when you have time then things can
happen.
At some point last year Stuart
Kidd had ‘time’ on his hands – as he puts it a ‘chance weekend’ to himself. So why not take a
chance on the time that you’ve got. Which is exactly what he did. Setting
himself the challenge to record an album in a weekend. Well let’s say put down
the basis of a long player in a 48 hours (I can’t be exact – I wasn’t
there) The result of this is ‘Chance
Weekend’ an incredibly beautiful set of songs structured through chance and
risk, experimentation and play.
We all experience moments of time
on our hands. Good times. Bad times. It’s what we choose to do with this time that shapes
tomorrow and all that. There’s something in looking back to those moments when
boredom bred creativity and the 'in between' happened. Stuart Kidd makes the
music of the 'in between' from a cupboard (well not just a cupboard – but let’s
stick with it as an image for his creative genius) in Scotland. Stuart Kidd has been in my life for some
‘time’ now. I first came into contact with his incredible melodies and
harmonies as part of The Wellgreen in a club in North London. Playing good time
rock and roll with his partner in chime Marco Rea. And then through his
bandcamp site I discovered all manner of beauty. 'Chance Weekend' is another find
from this cupboard full of dreaming.
Starting with an idea – well it
has to start somewhere – to create songs using ‘chance’ materials Kidd set
about creating a wonderful new long layer. Inspired by Eno and Coryat and Dobson’s ‘The
12 Song Game’ he set about using random cards and exercises to revisit sounds,
create new ones, merge ideas and sing with abandon in new ways. It’s still Kidd
though – it’s still songwriting of the highest order – it’s just put together
differently.
Sometimes with time on your hands
you find new things to do with it.
Now this might be an odd place to
bring this up but I’ve been reading a book by John Higgs again ‘The KLF Chaos
and Magic and the band who burned a million pound’. It’s a wonderful book and
you should read it. But within its pages is an explanation of magical thinking.
‘Chance Weekend’ has been touched by magical thinking. It really is a beautiful
piece of work. I should write this review by using the techniques that
Kidd used – roll a dice and add parts about harmony or write in italics and
bold. But I’m going to chance it and just write whilst listening. Hopefully it
will make some sense.
Opening with ‘A picture I don’t
want to paint’ with it’s nod to the laid back 'mid-eighties late night feel' production, kind of like a nightime drive tune that appears from the radio -
not Chris Rea - it’s never ever Chris
Rea – but it has a sort of minor melancholic tinge coupled with odd
squiggles and squeaks and straight away this is a departure from what we might be used to. The song is still full of rich harmonies blending and coming together but there’s
a touch of wailing guitar in there to, it’s quite a sad opener but it works.
This is followed by ‘Little One’ a
heartfelt tune to being a family. I guess once someone else comes along you
shift your perspective in life and this shift in perspective has produced a wonderful
song. It starts with a buzz and simple
beat mixed with a drone my kind of pure pop – I can’t put my finger on the what it reminds
of – it has this big ‘red rocks’ moment near the end – you know epic pop. All hands aloft with lights and people on
shoulders. It’s a song with a punch in the air and swaying with
your lover. Families come from this.
There’s a lyric that Kidd sings so beautifully - keep us in your plans –
because you know your children grow up and we all have to escape sometime but as a parent you want your children to 'keep us in mind'. It
resonates with love for the unknown whilst calling past - a nod
to being back somewhere in time. It's a beauty. This cupboard pop pioneer is producing some of
the most wonderful sounds around at the moment and you really should give it a
listen.
Opening with a Sgt Pepper like
fanfare ‘Forget Me Not’ drifts into that
beatific 60s simplicity and here come The Zombies to help him create a perfect
pop storm with a banjo and a kazoo somehow making melodies conjuring the 1930s. This
has a lot of Macca about it and that’s no bad thing. There’s never an afterthought with Kidd – he
puts it all into the tunes and it works. Like ‘Tomorrow Sky’, that comes next
all seas and open horizons with a space filled guitar part to match. This is my
favourite so far ( but I haven’t got to the end yet) There’s a swirling organ
like the mighty sea rumbling beneath it and that chord progression sends you far out to
watch the sun. I don’t want to say it’s country folk – but you need a jump in
point so I’m saying it has echoes of country folk but inflected with the city
(to keep it real maaaaan) The harmonies are thick and wonderful - the whole long
player is both reflective and forward thinking. In using random procedures to create songs the process has made Kidd stray from what he knows into a tomorrow that never knows.
Next comes 'Crazy George' – which is
just brilliant it seems to be made up of found sounds and repetition. I get the feeling of early children’s
television music as Kidd makes sounds
from rainbows. It’s got a touch of Van
Dyke Parks, it's pastoral and evocative of other pleasant worlds. Actually this
might be my favourite. And once again time is referenced so well as KiDD sings 'You can’t look back without tomorrow close at hand.' You really can't.
Up next is ‘Sagro’ - now this actually
has the Bagpuss melody as it's intro ( or I might have locked on to a children’s television
theme in my mind through my own magical thinking) it’s all Oliver Postgate and
wonder. Still mining that Van Dyke Parks vibe and then shifting to drum machines and swirls.
Melodies unwinding over chugging beats.
When it breaks after two minutes it’s sublime. I could listen to an
album of that sound. There’s lots going on in all these songs – but it doesn’t
feel that it’s thrown in – more developed even though his working method held
more power over the production of this album than the more traditional process
of writing a set of songs. But sometimes you have to just do something
different
'Like a Bullet' is a ‘cut up’
lyrical blast an ‘Alphabet boogie woogie’ to borrow Kidd’s own technique. I
have just written ‘The Beach Boys meet The Style Council uptown’. And that’s no
bad thing. So I'll stick with that description for now.
The fuzzed opening of ‘Unknown Hometown’ with its echoes of MBV guitars breaking and falling apart whilst
Teenage Fanclub provide the structure is absolutely pure pop. Random and
sublime. It feels like it’s in a key that’s pushed his voice somewhere else and
I really like that. It’s quite a big one this one.
We are nearing the end and there’s
time for two more tunes from this wunderKidd. ‘I see crocodiles’ a drone
spiritual with a touch of Bowie era ‘Low’ about it – you’ll get the
reference when you listen. But then suddenly punctuated with huge harmonies as at comes to an end – we're back to hands in the air – as night falls and we fall in love.
And there’s a lovely drone repetition at the end that I could listen to for
hours.
Finally wonk pop at its best is
addressed in ‘Where have they gone’ With spring reverb making it seem ‘Free’ (
see what I did there?) and alive. It’s like Kidd goes glam with a touch of Tricky thrown in the blender. A riotous manner with which to close the cupboard
door on at this time. As experiments go this works for Kidd. It’s another long
player of incredible tunes and words from a genuine genius of sound. He’s
contributed to so much wonderful music over the years but clearly saves some of
the magic for himself. With time and chance he’s woven together a truly special
record.
With ‘time’ comes creativity. Kidd’s
time over that weekend was well spent. Why don’t you take a chance on Kidd and
listen yourself this weekend. You won’t be disappointed.
You can find the album to download or buy a limited copy here:
https://kidd.bandcamp.com/
You can find even more wonderful things here:
https://kiddtunes.com/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7jTgnIN8MDiKqHVGfvgz0k
Here is the video for ‘A picture I don’t want to paint’
You can find the album to download or buy a limited copy here:
https://kidd.bandcamp.com/
You can find even more wonderful things here:
https://kiddtunes.com/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7jTgnIN8MDiKqHVGfvgz0k
Here is the video for ‘A picture I don’t want to paint’
Oh and check out The Barne Society they released Grin and Bear it by The Wellgreen - and that's ace too.
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