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Jillianne Hamilton.
Kestrels - Primary Colours
By Jarrett Arsenault
(11/15/09)
I love Kestrels, I love Kestrels, I love Kest... nevermind. No matter how hard I tried to find something remotely good about this band, my ears ended up being violated by the "creative" way in which someone (Chad Peck) was using their whammy bar. I hate to come right out and say it, but pop-rock shouldn’t ever be accompanied by an out of tune guitar.
That’s right folks, pop-rock.
Not jovially self-proclaimed alternative, not coined indie, but poorly executed pop-rock. There aren’t enough instruments or sound effects you can cram into a three chord progression with those ever so familiar and boringly mainstream vocals to make their *ahem* style, anything else.
I did a little bit of research on the band prior to my ears bleeding and, being completely honest, I was a little bit excited to hear them. An up-and-coming indie rock band with a collection of good CD reviews, good performance reviews and a few interviews just to spice things up. I unfortunately never got the ear transplant or the cognitive modification that allows one to listen to a frequently out-of-tune instrument, and say something nice about it.
Realizing music is completely relative to the listener, I tried multiple times with multiple different methods (and multiple litres of alcohol), to no avail. There is just no way one can justify purposefully using a guitar technique that can be done well (with vibrato, melodies, etc.) to repeatedly contaminate and defile the key in which the other noise making devices are playing.
Whammy bars aside, for now, the band tended to remain a decently tight ensemble for most of the album. If you dissect the album, you’ll be able to find that some tunes resemble everyday mainstream radio music. So for those who are into mainstream, easy-listening, and undeviating from a three chord progression or pentatonic scale, then you may find something you like in this band. Chad isn’t that terrible a vocalist, or poet (using the word loosely) for that matter.
In retrospect, the lyrics did seem to have at least some meaning, and Chad sung them with some emotion, so all couldn’t be completely unsalvageable, could it? Adam and Kirstan, respective drum and bass players, provided a steady rhythm section. They played off each other well, with the bass accents also moderately accented on the drums.
Related links:
+ Kestrels (official site)
+ Kestrels (MySpace)
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* * * * *
Jarrett Arsenault is musician/drop-out of sorts with talents in many instruments. While in the midst of starting up a funk/trip-hop band, he stumbled upon the opportunity to pursue a once prominent pastime, writing. With the strong influences from John Frusciante, Hunter S. Thompson, and the disembodied eye who is constantly judging him, Jarrett plans to either pursue Journalism, Law, or Music in the future.
