The Delta never seemed so close to the Westcountry
Imagine for a moment that Jack White had decided, instead of making the White Stripes a stripped back drum-and-guitar combo, that what he really wanted to do was be in an Alt-Country band and throw the kitchen sink into the production. If he’d borrowed a handful of Zeppelin riffs and raided an instrument shop, it might have come out sounding like Kill It Kid.
Stomping first track ‘Heaven Never Seemed So Close’ is like being invited to a barn dance with Jimmy Page fronting Black Stone Cherry as the house band. The whole feel is heavy country folk, with the crashing drums and grinding guitar reinforced by silky strings moments and melancholy piano. Singer Chris Turpin’s unusual cracked vocals are the very definition of singing from the heart, but if Turpin’s vocals are too full on they’re toned down by the softer yet soulful strains of pianist/vocalist Stephanie Ward. The sound is simply massive.
Each song is a work of art in itself, swinging from leaden blasts of power where each instrument creates its own niche in the wall of sound blasting from the speakers, to slower and quieter piano-driven moments like the beginning of ‘Fool For Loving You’. There are even moments of retro humour in the country-blues stomp of ‘My Lips Won’t Be Kept Clean’, and groove-led ‘Ivy And Oak’. Like Zeppelin, and many of the bands that followed them, Kill It Kid don’t shy away from rocking out one moment then bringing it all back home to just strings, piano and vocals the next. It doesn’t sound like a band from Bath. It sounds like it’s got that Alt-American twang but with Trans-Atlantic appeal.
It’s a remarkable debut, and following it up will either make or break this unusual band. Hardly perfect, some of its charm is in the flaws. It’s not so retro that it’s parody, or derived that it comes out like a carbon copy of the Delta greats. And it sounds like it was immense fun to write and record, which makes it a pleasure to listen to again and again.