Kites

ARTIST / BAND: Kites

SONG (MP3): Heroes and Villains

ALBUM: You and I in the Kaleidoscope

FILE UNDER: Indie / Alternative / Pop

INFO: Kites mastermind Jean-Philip Grobler has been toiling away at his new EP You and I in the Kaleidoscope for nigh on three years. “I wanted the four tracks on the EP to represent everything that to me is beautiful about pop music, and that took a lot longer than I thought,” he laughs. With ...Kaleidoscope, Jean has gone beyond creating just beautiful pop music. He’s crafted a perfect pop record that is irresistibly catchy, while still being able to surprise you at every turn. The guitars are often loud and big, but they’re juxtaposed by Jean's layered, almost silk-like vocals and counter melodies. A delicate glockenspiel melody floating above a guitar rock apocalypse, fearing for its’ life. The Clash performing the Carmina Burana. A heartbreaking James Bond love scene soundtrack, covered by The Cure and produced by Phil Spector. Yes, classifications can be deceiving. There is incredible intimacy and tenderness in these four songs, as in the heart-wrenching “Game of Love and War,” but just as you're about to shed a tear, “Heroes and Villains” comes along blazing all of its ominous dance-rock cannons. For every inch of inspired pop-majesty on this EP, there are mountains of texture and aural-delicacies aplenty. Whether it be the Ska-meets-Baroque middle section of “Easy Now,” or the delicate melancholy of “Daylight”’s breakdown, the four tracks on ...Kaleidoscope contain enough auditory bliss to fill an entire sugar refinery.

Sergi Gvarjaladze

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