Album Review: "Hush Hush" by Kentucky Knife Fight

This band came to me by complete accident. There was a chance meeting and I met one of the members. Until this meeting, this group was completely unknown to me. But here we are with the album and checking it out. It's always nice that music is everywhere and you never really know where you're going to find it.

Admittedly, the St. Louis Music Scene isn't indelibly inked into my brain like it once was. Right now if you asked me to name five local bands, at least 4 of them would no longer be a going concern. Although the heyday of the middle nineties in St. Louis has not left me. Many a night I spent down on Laclede's Landing. Mississippi Nights, Kennedy's, and Bernard's Pub were my hangouts, but we've quickly gotten off track.

So, as it is, the St. Louis Scene is currently something of a mystery to me, but I am trying to wade back into the waters and find more and more new stuff and here we have the latest release by St. Louis's own, Kentucky Knife Fight.

After having heard a couple tracks, before sitting down to listen to the album in its entirety, I was beginning to think that I did not enjoy this band at all. The vocals, usually the least critical part of a song for me, are something the likes of which I have never heard. There is no better description than that from me. The video posted at the end of the review will explain that better than this reviewer ever could.

The songs are expertly written and arranged. In most cases all of the members are playing off of each other and their interplay is fantastic. What was striking is how thin this album sounds with as much as it has going on sonically at any given time. It is almost as the record is brittle and the magic could break at any moment. This gives the songs a strong vintage vibe to them that is just so very cool.

The biggest complaint is the usual. There is stunning lead guitar work buried into some of the tracks, but there just is not enough of it spread out on the disc for my tastes.

The songs are varied and the 35 minute run time could very well leave you wanting more. After listening to this disc, I really couldn't tell you what kind of band this is, or what they are trying to accomplish, but I will keep listening to see if I can figure it out. In every song, there are elements of country, blues, bluegrass, rock, and more. Please forgive me, but I cannot stop putting music into pigeonholes. This group however, defies any conventional pigeonholing and we'll just put them in the rock category.

Year: 2013
Genre: Rock

Tracklisting:
1) Paper Flowers Three
2) Bad Blood
3) Misshapen Love
4) Paper Flowers Two
5) Theme For No One
6) Love The Lonley
7) Hush Hush
8) Gunsmoke
9) Father
10) Paper Flowers One