What an exceptionally talented 22 year old is Kim Churchill. His second album, " Detail of Distance" is nothing short of a pleasure that will keep you good company over the coming winter months (in the Southern Hemisphere) or Summer months in the North, as the case may be.
Already lauded for his intricate folky, finger picking style, Churchill turns it up a notch or three on this album with the inclusion of deceivingly simple sounding electric rhythms that sit underneath dreamy finger picked guitars lulling you into an intermittent revery the same way a sun shower might before jolting you back to reality with the true nature of the beast. In this case, the beast being steely, incessantly grinding guitars that form the spine of half of these songs.
The tracklisting has been put together interestingly with "rockier" songs featuring distorted blues harp and guitars leading the way for the first half of the album and finishing on a high note with the albums first single " Season's Grind" at track five. Following on are six rare beauties that sound the same way sunshine looks when it sparkles and bounces off wet leaves in a myriad of different directions all at once. A perfect example of which is " Wander The Tracks" which features heavenly back up vocals by Babette Hayward and a warm sad trumpet that ironically comforts the listener against the sung refrain "it's three am and the rain is calling"
Track 7 on the album "It Will Be Morning Soon" features a standout performance by Felix Brochier on trumpet that transports you so ingeniously to a place and time, you'll find it hard to believe you're not sitting on a wet street after a long night out, waiting for the morning light to bathe you, warm you, make everything alright and erase the arduous darkness.
This is an album full of thoughtful content and the production by Todd Simko who also steps up on backup vox, vibraphone, omnichord, taurus pedals and upright bass is brilliant.
Perhaps the most brilliant of all is Churchill himself who we have to thank for writing and performing an album of lyrically rich and technically brilliant musical treats. This album showcases a massive leap forward in maturity of lyrical content and compositional qualites for Churchill. At the age of twenty two, I'm guessing that we have by no means heard the last or the best of the talented Mr C. We love it.
"Detail of Distance" is available now through Indica Australia.
http://itunes.apple.com/au/artist/kim-churchill/id368734154
Check out the album "Detail of Distance" and Kim Churchills current tour dates around Australia here: http://www.kimchurchill.com/
