Adrian Lane
An excellent neo-classical album. One of the great things about this is the brass section; one would expect a line-up that includes piano and various horns to have a jazz feel, but this uses brass to give long sustained atmospheres and melancholy melodies.
Favorite track: NO3624.
Most bands, especially young bands, can fall into the trap of thinking that music is a Darwinian exercise in competition.
Like plants desperate for the attention of bees, the struggle to ‘get seen’ and ‘get heard’ demands their music be big and flashy and bright. This, perhaps, is less about the music industry in particular and more a general reflection of urban impatience. Things move faster now, and so do we, and so does our music. Trends and fashions just add to the sense that everyone is fighting for their season in the sun. Very few bands have their moment, fewer still are perennial.
Kinbrae are not most bands. Consisting of twin brothers, Andrew and Michael Truscott from Wormit in rural Fife, their music moves entirely at its own pace. It will not be rushed or harried. Rather than mould themselves to fit in with the busy listener’s life, the listener instead has to mould themselves to Kinbrae. Has to pause and reflect. And listen. Listen to the silences as well as the notes and the range of minutiae in between. Listen to the field recordings, the subtle synths, the gentle percussion: all the sonic ephemera that detail the landscape.
Although all these elements are there, Kinbrae, in their purest form, consist of piano and brass. Each brother contributing his part, these instruments lace around each other in beautiful repeating motifs. They seem to have a preternatural feel for harmony and dynamic which means that, while being slow, they are always engaging; and while being simple, are always emotive and meaningful.
Kinbrae’s debut album Coastal Erosion incorporates aspects of post-rock, ambience and musique concrète to produce exceptionally evocative instrumental music which conjures a tangible sense of nostalgia for Andrew and Michael’s idyllic rural childhood. Like the slow motion photography in a nature documentary, Kinbrae at their best seem to expand time. Each of the ten tracks are moments and emotions caught and slowed and studied. Listening to them seems to enhance our own environment.
Coastal Erosion is an album that builds - rather than erodes - our awareness of place: uniquely translating rural spaces and experience into melody and harmony. Put simply, this is sonic map making. And it is beautiful.
credits
released July 13, 2015
Andrew Arthur Truscott- Piano, Synthesizers, Percussion, Organ, Field Recordings
Michael Wilson Truscott - Cornet, Flugelhorn, Tenor Horn, Acoustic Guitar, Organ
Nichola Kerr - Viola on 'Trees in November'
supported by 15 fans who also own “Coastal Erosion”
Birl of Unmap sculpts an immensely vivid, wild landscape, one seasoned with lichen-rich rock, moody gorse, and whispered shores, all to which Archibald’s beguiling vocals lure us, like a siren, to quietly crash upon.
A truly wonderful achievement. Leon Frey
supported by 10 fans who also own “Coastal Erosion”
So yeah, this is brilliant! Nice to hear something that is contemporary classical in nature using a wide array of textures, especially brass, and not being bent on overly polished or pretty sounds. And I mean that as the highest of compliments, well done Kinbrae! Shout out to the insane production of Ben Chatwin as well. Lost Tribe Sound
Recorded on an iPhone, the four tracks on the new EP from Kiara NGL burst with both big feelings and gentle melodies. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 19, 2022