Kim Acrylic and the Northern Drones Fanfare Meltdown

Review by J. Darren Lee

Beat poetry and psychedelic rhythms is what one immediately thinks when listening to Kim Acrylic and the Northern Drones’ ‘Fanfare Meltdown” for the first time. But it is so much more than that. Influenced heavily by classic experimental bands such as The Velvet Underground, and by beat poets such as Allen Ginsberg, the music beats out a haphazard melody accompanied by the soft lilting voice of Kim Acrylic. Her poetry is deep, dark, heavy and definitely born from Kim’s life experiences as well as the darker side of Kim’s hometown of Seattle. The lyrics ooze the city’s well known dark, gloomy atmosphere of loss and struggles, whether they are personal relationships, or personal demons.

The music especially highlights the vocals in a peculiar way, in that the music itself is not what adds to the heavy darkness embodied by the lyrics. The music is light, the vocals dark in a kind of yin/yang symbiotic state that brings together a whole picture of being. With driving bass guitar and drums, and twangy guitar rhythms, the songs bring the listener on a journey of dark exploration.

However, the music seems to overpower the soft vocals at some times and drowns out Kim’s poetry as in songs like “Girl Afraid”, and sound quality is not consistent throughout the album. Other than this small production issue, fans of psychedelic experimental music will find “Fanfare Meltdown” a dark, but enjoyable musical trip. “Fanfare Meltdown” can be obtained at the band’s myspace site myspace.com/kimacrylicthedrones, or at cdbaby.com/cd/katnd.

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