Kissing Party - The Hate Album

  by Tara McEvoy

published: 5 / 7 / 2010

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Anyone searching out an irresistible blast of no wave pop music and an album composed entirely of two minute marvels need look no further than the latest offering from up-and- coming Denver band, Kissing Party. Despite the not-so-reassuring title, ‘The Hate Album’ quickly presents itself as a poppy, uplifting record – it’s not all doom and gloom where this band are concerned. The Kids from Colorado, on this, their third release, firmly establish themselves as a clever and inventive group. With sun-saturated hooks that recall the Drums, production akin to the likes of the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, and the cutesy boy-girl vocals of Gregg Dolan and Deirdre Sage that sound like the work of a more melodic Los Campesinos, Kissing Party look to be on the verge of becoming the new Belle and Sebastian for the next generation of music lovers. Skipping along at such a pace that it’s almost impossible to scope out a distinct narrative among the album’s fourteen songs, the band’s frenetic, almost schizophrenic accounts of everything from brain cells to homecomings can be hard to keep track of. Even this aspect of the record is, however, beguiling, conveying the emotional twists and turns which the songs speak of. Yet, somewhat disappointingly, at times Sage’s vocals can grate, seeming almost whiny, and Kissing Party can appear to be too twee (throwing in a few too many handclaps) for their own good. While there are doubtlessly many good, perhaps even a few great tracks here, one suspects that the band may not have realised their potential to the fullest. That said, if not flawless, ‘The Hate Album’, incontestably marks out Kissing Party as an intriguing prospect for the future – definitely one to keep your eye on.

Track Listing:-

1 The Heart of It All
2 Donna Joy
3 The Homecoming
4 Melania Reprise
5 King Graves Rd
6 Melania
7 Lets Face These Times
8 I Just Want to Get out of This Body
9 My Least Favorite Kind of Anything
10 This Disgusting Morning
11 Life in Girard
12 A Billion Brain Cells Later
13 You Made Me Happy
14 The Recovery
15 Thin Places
16 The Idiot
17 Celebrity Clippings
18 Fuck the Future

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