ALBUM REVIEW: Kindness- 'Otherness'

Rating:

Adam Bainbridge, aka Kindness, has returned with his second album Otherness, and he’s set to bring a new spin, scholarly swing and sass to pop music as we know it. The chic chillwave and expansive ’80s pop air of Bainbridge’s debut, World, You Need A Change Of Mind, turned quite a few heads upon release. But Bainbridge is not about to retread old ground; with a wealth of musical influences to draw from, he did not find himself struggling with the clichéd ‘difficult second album’:

“We’re in an era when we have the freedom to be completely postmodern in the collage we make, the things we’re inspired by, the sounds we use. It would be boring as hell, lazy, and cowardly, to just do what you’ve already done.”

So how does it compare? Well, ‘World Restart’ erupts with a strong, sultry slap of brass and some slick cymbal rippling, which then opens up into a dominant four-part harmony, as a seductive groove develops. This leads us perfectly into ‘This Is Not About Us’ with its Trip-hop kit sounds, auto tuned vocal trills and Neo-soul softness.

By this point one begins to notice the glimmering R&B production at work here. After producing, recording and living with master-collaborator Dev Hynes, the artist’s contribution is unmissable. However, unlike ‘Cupid Deluxe’, the glossy production does become slightly suffocating.

As the LP unfolds, there are further highlights, such as the spatial synth pop of ‘Who Do You Love? Ft. Robyn’ and the lovelorn weaving of ‘Why Don’t You Love Me Ft. Dev Hynes & Tawiah’. In case you hadn’t gathered, love is the theme here; he is a pop purist in this respect.

Come the halfway point of the record, attention can start to waver after one ambling mid-tempo jam replaces another, sometimes missing crucial tension and release points. As Otherness is a musical amalgamation of styles, it does at times lack the playfulness of Pop, the sincerity of Soul and the energy of Disco. This being said, the album is an enjoyable experience that extols different elements of Avant-pop, Neo-soul, Jazz and faux-disco.

David Weir