Kiss From The Balcony

TORO Y MOI = CHAZ BEARやWYE OAKのJENN WASNERによるプロデュースでこれまでも素晴らしいアルバムを残してきたオークランド拠点のシンガーソングライター、MADELINE KENNEYがニューアルバム『KISS FROM THE BALCONY』をリリース。これまで断続的にコラボレーションを重ねてきたBEN SLOAN、STEPHEN PATOTAが参加しており、ヴォーカル・パフォーマンス、サウンド・プロダクション、世界観に至るまで大胆かつ緻密に作り上げられている。瑞々しいエレクトロニクスと柔らかなアコースティック・インストゥルメンタルが調和したオーガニック・ポップ"ALL I NEED"などを収録しています。

After working on her previous albums with the likes of Toro y Mois Chaz Bear and Wye Oaks Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack, Madeline Kenney recorded her fourth album, 2023s A New Reality Mind, alone in her basement. The follow-up, Kiss from the Balcony, finds her working collaboratively again, this time with percussionist Ben Sloan (the National, Why?), who brought electronic elements and a background in sound design to the two weeks of sessions, and Stephen Patota (Flocks, Why?), who contributed melodic guitar lines as well as acoustic elements. The through lines across Kenneys solo output have been her articulate, angular vocal lines and highly textured indie art-pop style, a sound that manages to remain distinctive, even in the presence (or absence) of such inventive co-conspirators. Thematically, Kiss from the Balcony is concerned with "radical acceptance" of the absurd, a quality that can be either inscrutable or relatable on the album, depending on the song. The opener, "Scoop," begins with a drum fill and a lite funk groove before spacy synths and more wide-ranging guitar injections appear within a highly filtered audio-scape (think AM car radio). Eventually, Kenneys multi-tracked vocals offer up lines about relationship expectations versus needs, and about how bar bathrooms are often sanctuaries for women. The darker and more warped "Semitones" explores when feelings toward a partner turn sour, and the glitchy "Paycheck" opens with the lyrics: "Now someone wants to hurt you/Or worse, is gonna make a paycheck on you." Its shimmery textures include guitar lines that seem to imitate the high-pitched radio interference glimpsed between stations. Its varied percussion includes skittery, muffled taps that almost sound like computer keystrokes. Elsewhere, the sparer, patchwork-like "Cue" incorporates guitar and orchestral timbres (timpani-like drumming, strings jumping in as if tuning, ephemeral woodwinds). The album closes with the singsongy "All I Need," a love song that romanticizes tactile comforts atop interwoven electronic and acoustic textures. Somehow knotty and delicate at once, Kiss from the Balcony is another strong entry in the Kenney catalog, if one that quickly dissipates into the ether. ~ Marcy Donelson