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Kanga - You and I Will Never Die


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Sometimes, the evolution of the inherent properties of a project is so easy to notice and yet so unexpected – when considered alongside the expectations of their output – that it takes the listener a moment, a song or two, or even a duration of the album, to adjust. You and I Will Never Die is at once perfectly aligned as a continuation of KANGA's past efforts in retrofitting various elements of dark electro and industrial into catchy pop templates and a record of much more refined pleasures.

Her writing doesn't betray the immediacy with which her previous two records have managed to tap into the growing saturation of the genre with well defined melody and structure. These new songs are often times similarly self contained highs and lows of pop efficiency but also, and to much more lasting effect, they flow and organically sprawl one out of another with atmosphere often overriding other impulses.
In this vein, "Godless" is a banger built atop of a smattering of electro fuzz that echoes with clarity, be that due to cleanly deployed melody or effortless guidance of the vocals (and it grows out of the moody preface with a satisfying sense of continuity).
Those elements carry to "Touch" but with a twist of harsher, more determined rhythm and blunt heel tapping. KANGA's voice marriages it all flawlessly into a tortured, resonant romance between the danceable determinism and introspective gaps in the forward momentum.
It's at times dangerous, shiver inducing stuff but it always revolves around the central conceit of approachable dynamism and sonic clarity, even when the grinding, stretched out textures move forward in the mix like down the line on "Brother".
When it counts, the sinsiter dramatic heft of building up tensions is expertly delivered – "Moscow" drops and looms, only to pull back into the gratifying, ensnaring whirl of looped declarations, delivered seductively amidst the ascending pads.
The record never outright betrays its clear commitment to crisp programming and cushioning the listener somewhat but all of this is much, much denser that KANGA's past two releases and rewards repeated engagements.

This is still focused, well mapped out song writing from KANGA but with a dense layering of musical and emotional beats, symptomatic of pop music of the highest creative order. She continues to deliver just that, and remains steady on the trajectory of careful technical refinements and methodical lyrical maturation of meaning and form. Her voice too, even more confidently then before, anchors you to the tide, rising between the ebbs and flows of melody and mood. Grab it, listen to it, you will enjoy it.

Tracklist:

01. Preface    
02. Home
03. Godless
04. Touch
05. Brother    
06. Interlude    
07. Moscow
08. Violence
09. Ritual City
10. Say Goodbye
11. Waiting
12. Untie
Author:
Translator: DamienG
Add date: 2021-04-28 / Music reviews




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