Band: ReedKD
Album: Prerelease
Best element: Very comforting and accessible.
Genre: Mellow Indie
Website: www.reedkd.com
Label: Dirty Laundry Records (www.dirtylaundryrecords.com)
Band E-mail: reedkdmusic@yahoo.com
ReedKD is brilliant when it comes to making a melody. While that’s important in any genre, in the genre of mellow singer-songwriter, it’s everything. This 5-song pre-release of his as-yet-unnamed full-length is simply stunning, and it’s all because the melodies are fantastic. Whether it’s a vocal line, a guitar line, or a piano line, the result is always the same- calming, familiar, and entrancing. If you want to chill, there is no better artist than ReedKD- “Seventeen” is perfect evidence. The subtle use of electronics underlies a plodding keys line that propels the dreamy song. The soft, sure, clear vocals ring out with a sweet clarity that is unrivaled anywhere in the album. It’s a genuine tragedy that the song is the shortest on this prerelease, as it is a track that I could put on repeat all day and just chill.
The slightly more apocalyptic vein of “Moving Parts” displays the emotional weight that Reed can pull- instead of being used to soothe, the keys here accentuate feelings of loss and alienation. “Say You’ll Miss Me” displays a bit of an alt-country accent in the guitars, while pulling in some Death Cab for Cutie influences in the vocals. The Fountains of Wayne couldn’t have asked for a better pop gem than “Drive Away”, which closes the album in a brilliant manner.
Overall, there’s not a better way to spend a day then taking a long trip with ReedKD on the stereo. Or maybe just chillin with Reed on the stereo. The singer-songwriter world has another gem in ReedKD- pretty soon the general public will discover it.
-Stephen Carradini
independentclauses@hotmail.com