Album Review: Jim Kroft – Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea
3 min read
Berlin based Brit Jim Kroft has recently given us a taste of summer with the first of his labors One Sees The Sun. He now brings us the cool flavors of the season in the form of his debut album Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea.
The days of 90’s Brit pop may have come and gone but are now revisited on this record and its refreshing with all the indie out there sounding so similar to have an album like this one come into the light. Its different to all the rest – its not trying to be anything that its not. It stands alone and on its own merit.
The songs on this record are very fresh and sound like they were written with summer in mind. A lot of acoustic guitars, some charming string arrangements and a raw energy thrown in with some great songwriting and the odd ‘do-wop’ backing vocals for good measures.
Tales of the Dark Arts pulls us into the record in all its string fueled glory. Sounding like something from an early George Harrison its a quaint number warming us up for the highlight on the album One Sees The Sun. Chosen as the first single for the record its warm, its fresh and its packed full of hooks. It has everything that makes for a perfect pop hit.
Birthrights follows and it would be a shock if this one wasn’t a future single. Its got ‘radio-friendly’ written all over it. The song has some pretty profound lyrics making it a very inspiring listen.
Guess That’s What The Gods Say is another gem and one of the best on the record. Its piano solo is complimenting to its guitar based surroundings and its the most American sounding number on the album.
Haunting backing vocals take over in a collision of ballad meets melancholy in the form of Falling Apart.
Nearing the end of the album the blues inspired Condition adds a touch of change and breaks the album up nicely providing an outlet for Krofts diversity.
Though Jim’s vocal ability can at times sound quite overstretched on some of the tracks on this record he still is able to pull together some quite intricate and well crafted pop folk numbers.
If your a fan of Brit pop you cant really go wrong with this record. Its full of everything fantastic about those 90’s days gone but with a fresh uplifting to the genre. Its a great album that will no doubt be making waves once released on May 3rd.
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