Simple Kid (Ciaran McNealy) is a one-man show from Ireland. Simp, as he is more commonly known, has put together a top-notch Do-It-Yourself album that will have you drawing comparisons to Beck almost immediately. After numerous spins, I seem to find myself always thinking of The Eels. Either way, Simple Kid is in pretty damn good company.
After releasing his debut a few years back, Simp took a sabbatical due to the stresses of the music biz. Drawn back by his love of making music, he banged 2 out over three months using an old eight track-cassette recording machine in his apartment. The overall sound is completely raw, but not sloppy by any means. Simple Kid is definitely a bear for detail as the music is always tight and never over-produced.
The disc kicks off with a couple of bluesy numbers in “Lil’ King Kong” and “Self Help Book.” After reading the press kit, this was not what I was expecting. Both songs will remind you of Beck, but to be perfectly honest, I think they are both better than anything Mr. Hansen has done in quite a while.
Simp than strips it all down with some pleasant acoustic work on “Old Domestic Cat.” It acts as a nice break in the album, showing off his folkie skills. A couple of tunes later, Simp launches into my highlight of the disc, “Serotonin.” Due ot my limited writing skills, the best I can describe it is as a folk song with a cool drum loop and some knob turning that gives it some special flavor. “Ballad of Elton John” and “Mommy N Daddy” are couple of other top notch tracks. Chalk up another fine disc put out by the eclectic Yep Roc label.
From MOKB:
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I heard lil king kong on XM the other day, so hopefully he’ll get some more much deserved exposure. Great stuff.
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