I’m pretty new to Kings Kaleidoscope (as in I knew their name and may have heard part of one of their songs in the background somewhere); a friend of mine recommended their latest album, The Beauty Between, so I sat my face down and strapped on my wow-these-are-really-falling-apart-how-are-they-still-intact-headphones. I’m on my second listen of the album as I write and edit this piece of work. What do I think? A lot of things, but the more important question that I need to ask myself is “what do I feel I think?”
“I’ve been having these weird thoughts lately. Like, is any of this for real, or not?”
I don’t typically wander out beyond my musical safe zone unless I can somehow subconsciously justify the ties between whatever it is I’m deciding to inject into my earholes. I initially listened to this album because friendship is apparently a thing that ties people together and makes them do things that are out of the ordinary. That aside, my type of song titles contain “ft.” or “feat.” at the end, 80% of the time. This album had that, so I thought that it must be something electronic, and I could dig that.
This album was actually not at all what I was hoping for, the sheltered ED-pop fan that I am. I was initially considering shutting down the operation after listening to about half a minute. What kept me going? Friendship? Nah, that’s not a real thing. I was enjoying all sounds kicking at my eardrums. It was a fresh, relaxing glass of lemonade to my ears.
Something, Something, Lyrics
I’ve not actually had much time to digest what the vocalists are saying, so I can’t say much about that. I heard the words “Twitter,” “God,” “holding back,” and others, and I know this is a Christian music type of album, but I struggle with writing and listening to writing at the same time. There’s a decent amount of rapping, which I’m not at all a fan of (rapping, that is), but it was bearable, maybe even a tiny bit enjoyable.
Reviewing What My Ears are Viewing
“Rain.” This is several miles out, my favorite song on the album. It’s the closing track, so it’s kind of like the evening snack of the album. It’s nice and melts perfectly into my ears as if my ears were mouths drinking a chilly glass of iceless water. Is it because I’m most comfortable here? That’s a big part of it, but I’m also just soothed by the melody and lyrics, which I did listen to but won’t go over because you probably didn’t even read this far.
Other favorites are “Alive,” and believe it or not, one of the transition songs, “Does It Feel Like Real Love yet?” I wish the latter was a full song, because it’s the perfect intro to what could have been a masterpiece. It does a great job of branching into “Sticks & Stones” but I would have preferred if it were a full production.
Closing Brain Murmurings
It’s a great album and a fresh breath of non-stale air. Give it a listen or don’t. I don’t run your life (not yet).
8.5 Sticks out of 10 Stones.
Nathanael Hueso 