Rainbow Kitten Surprise was quite the surprise (yes, pun intended) for me when I flipped on their album RKS yesterday. It was suggested to me by someone in January when I was collecting album recommendations for my one album per day listening project and ended up on a spreadsheet unattributed. Put another way, I have no idea who recommended it to me and I just happened to stumble upon it on my spreadsheet said to myself “That’s a fun band name let’s take it for a spin and see what’s up” thinking it’d be an Indie pop album that was pretty light.
Couldn’t have been more wrong on that front. RKS is an emotional journey that evokes a combination of a gritty Kings of Leon, melodic Modest Mouse, and a somewhat more hopeful Hozier with bits of Alt-J spread into the mix. The whole thing is a moody vibe that feels desperate and sad in its self-reflection, like the collective band has experienced a bout of melancholic sadness, and yet as they come together to work through those emotions you can feel the collective relief they have as they create together. It’s hard to really put my finger on just what makes it so compelling but I think it’s the collective sound of therapy that they’ve managed to achieve which ultimately struck a nerve within me.
A large part of that is due to frontman Ela Melo, whose wistful lead vocals delivered on the front of his lips sound so delicate and authoritative at the same time. When Melo’s vocals are merged with the pensive sadness of guitarists Darrick “Bozzy” Keller and Ethan Goodpaster’s lead guitars (their collective performance on “All’s Well That Ends” is simply sublime) and eventually combined with the steady march of the rhythm section comprised of Jess Haney (drums) and Charlie Holt (bass), it’s hard not to feel like you’re listening to five people enter a collective consciousness and transcend their individuality for 40 minutes.
Great “band” albums have become fewer and further in between over the years. RKS throws it back in a way that feels new and old at the same time. If you were the lost soul who recommended this album to me 10 months ago please get in touch– I want some more of what you’re listening to.
Standout Songs: “All’s Well That Ends”, “Cold Love”, “Run”, “Goodnight Chicago”
Matthew. 