Usually I like writing reviews on the spot, capturing my first impression, the moment and the first emotion that the band gives to me. With Mr. Kind I wasn’t able to do that, or rather, I spent several days to complete the review. Not because I did not know what to write, indeed, there would be a lot of great things to say. However, every time I heard OK I was so impressed by the music and each song, that regularly, when the five tracks were over, I found myself with a blank sheet of paper and a beautiful smile.
Maybe the band has touched a very sensitive part of me (I consider Ryan Adams one of my biggest influences in my music career), but from the first listen of OK, I was completely enthralled by the fluidity of the songs and their maturity. Yes, although it is the first EP for Mr.Kind, it has a musical maturity and songwriting that can be easily compared to full length releases by very famous bands.
Listening to the songs written by Brian Bergeron (guitar /vox) and re-worked with Jon Devoto, Kyle Kelly-Yahner and Matt Roads, it is easy to place yourself in front of a band that, with several years of experience behind them, formed a strong alliance and have perfectly blended their contributions into one single awesome project. (hence the idea of the name as an allusion to the alliance and the spirit of collaboration itself).
The first track of the EP, “You’re OK”, also appears as the most stylistically different; a great rock song with a strong riff, dynamic, well-established, it forms a great contrast between silence and powerful guitars combining them together with a strong rhythm section. “The Artist” and “Homeostasis” make us fall in to that purely folk atmosphere that I personally LOVE. Brian’s voice goes perfectly with the songs, giving a certain rhythm heightened by the instruments. It seems to me to compare this to a lost album of Ryan Adams and his Cardinals or Wilco, and even though sometimes comparing one band to another may seem simplistic, in my opinion, it is absolutely a compliment. Also, “Take care” and “The Restless Release” go by in a moment, a little folk, dynamics that sometimes give a wink to pop music (as is “Take Care”, very valorized even by the touch of Rhodes throughout the piece).
When OK is over, you feel like you’ve been taken away from a party at the climax, like the power going out right in the middle of the concert. You’re almost forced to go back to the first track and start systematically listening to the five songs, hoping that every time a new one pops out or they can last longer. For almost a week this album broke into my iPod and the number of plays rivals much more established bands. Therefore, I officially appeal to them: “Guys, record a new album quickly, otherwise my iPod will end up refusing to let me listen to your tracks for the thousandth time.”