The Kissaway Trail
Sleep mountain
Bella Union
Let's get this out of the way: Danish band The Kissaway Trail owes a good deal of their sound to Arcade Fire. No... make that a great deal. From lush orchestral movements, to their pendent for melodramatic swells punctuated with non-specific "ooohh ohh ohhs", Win Butler and the gang seep though the holes of nearly every track. It may come as a surprise then, that The Kissaway Trail's sophomore effort "Sleep mountain" comes off significantly more than a simple "Neon Bible"-retread. Marrying electronics to dense instrumentals, they've managed to create an album that timelessly reflects the intermingled sorrow and optimism of youth.
With vocal styles that sound not unlike Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips, co-lead men Thomas Fagerlund and Søren Corneliussen lead the charge though eleven tracks, their Bright Eyes-style emotive phrasing adding gravity to melancholic paean "New year" and helping transform Neil Young cover "Philadelphia" into a multi-layered, wandering daydream. Unafraid to un-ironically dip into Loney Dear-style sincerity on "Beat your heartbeat" and "New lipstick", it's difficult not to get swept up in their unabashed romanticism. Arcade Fire may have gotten there first, but The Kissaway Trail is here to stay.
- Laura Studarus
