Posted on: June 29, 2010 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Kissing Cousins start off their second EP with a very Spartan arrangement for their “Deadline”. The confident guitars of the track are reminiscent of a Johynny Cash track seen through the eyes of early nineties “ironic” country like Christopher Isaak. The second track is marked with a very industrial backdrop on their “Live Without You”. The vocals do not seem to mesh well with the very cold and mechanical sound of the track, but perhaps some of the allure to the track is through this “odd couple” pairing. The vocals mix together Bjork and Shirley Manson, while the instrumentation is more influenced by Plastikman and Aphex Twin.

The two tracks that constitute the first half of the disc are removed from each other, but the martial drumming of “Deadline” seems to have some comparison to the inhuman arrangements of “Live Without You” in the sense that both are mechanical rather than infused with human emotion. “Act of Birth” starts off the second half of the track and brings Kissing Cousins into another completely different style than anything heard before on this EP. The vocals move to something that is a replica of Tori Amos, while the presence of a piano adds a little bit more to that comparison. The track is tender and warm, but the piano still has a chill to it that will shock listeners back into reality.

For the final track on “EP2”, the band blends together two styles that are separated by a number of years. The vocals are reminiscent of an act like the Patty Smith group, while the instrumentation is something that is pulled right from the grunge era (although, there might be hints of a Black Sabbath-like metal present here as well). The time has came for Kissing Cousins to come out with a full length. The band has been able to cut two discs that are solid, and it is time for them to provide their listeners with a full length that can allow the band to go stylistically wherever they want and still create some cohesion. The disc is less than fifteen minutes, so I am thinking that giving the band forty or fifty minutes to showcase their stuff would be a blessing for the band, as they would be able to perhaps create an overarching theme to properly coordinate their varying assault on their listeners. Pick this and the first EP up.

Top Track: Deadline

Rating: 6.8/10

Kissing Cousins – EP2 / 2006 Velvet Blue / 4 Tracks / http://www.velvetbluemusic.com / Reviewed 30 August 2006

[JMcQ]

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