CD Review

This album is a weird mix of stripped down “Stones-rock” and over-produced cacophony, a pattern that is repeated for each song. It is verses with high, distant vocals and electronic beats (and lyrics described by others as “Post-modern Bob Dylan,” which I often had trouble making out), and then a rise into a breezy, poppy chorus backed by all the synth and odd rambling noise that fits.

Voices in the background, slide guitar that is (incredibly) drowned out by synthetic noise, dirty thunder rumbling underneath, a little Led Zeppelin right-left action (“Staring at the Sun”), even (in “The Average Man”) a really annoying squelch that drove into my brain like a jackhammer.

Despite sounding like a home-studio effort (which it is: the liner notes say, “All songs recorded by Simple Kid on his 8-track and laptop”), and the disjointed nature of the songs, the collection is full of catchy tunes that somehow work, many achieving an anthemic quality (the Stevie Wonder/’70s/polemic“Drugs”). The disparity between verse and chorus, song and lyrics, becomes a theme, and actually makes this record an album. For any disagreements I might have (most would probably be alleviated by a formal producer and a more serious studio effort), Simple Kid is a solid effort, and has me interested in hearing where this young man takes us next.