Kingswood band
Melbourne band Kingswood have released their third album Juveniles to a very different world to what we are used to, gigs are postponed indefinitely or cancelled, the music and entertainment industry are rallying to survive the Coronavirus pandemic. While sounding less polished on the surface, Juveniles is anything but juvenile and is an evolution in sound and production for Kingswood, a band known for their live performances, this has been captured on Juveniles.
Written by singer Fergus Linacre and guitarist Alex Laska while touring the US and Europe last year, after discarding songs that didn’t feel like Kingswood songs, they emerged with Juveniles, “We had so many songs that we were immensely proud of, but we started to realise that it didn’t feel like Kingswood. Music isn’t just something we are half good at that gets us by, it is everything. It is so important to us that we won’t let a deadline or a strategy dictate when we are finished. So, we scrapped the lot, and went home to start again.” Ferg Linacre.
Juveniles opens with the amazing “You Make it so Easy” a guitar driven, desert rock, foot stomping anthem (Josh Homme would have been proud to call his) that was added to Kingswood’s live repertoire last year. In the same vein “Bittersweet” continues on with Alex Laska’s driving guitars and harmonies lead by singer Fergus Linacre. The new single from Juveniles is a cracker and would have been an amazing song to see live on the tour that Kingswood would be on right now if not for the outbreak of Coronavirus.
“Ready Steady” has elements of The Police, but dirtier sounding somehow, with the drop into the offbeat style. “If Only” is a whimsical harmony driven song with gritty guitars and then comes “Snakepit”, melodic harmonies and driving guitars. When you think “Snakepit” is done, it drops into some open guitar noodling.
“Cigarettes in Bed” is where the album shifts to a more pop-rock feel with the rhythm section of Braiden Michetti and Justin Debrincat dominating this song. “Cross my Heart” is back to the guitar and vocal harmonies that Kingswood do so well. Fergus’ falsetto on “Marilyn” is beautiful and whimsical – this is a song guaranteed to have the crowd singing along when they play it live. “One More Dance” is the link to past and reminds me of the midsection of their last album Microscopic Wars. “Candy Blue” returns to formula that has made the rest of the album great, that 70’s influence of a guitar band with great vocal harmonies.
Juveniles closes with “Young, Charming and Funny” back to the pop-rock feel of “Cigarettes in Bed” with snatches of the gritty guitar that holds the whole album together.
Juveniles is rougher around the edges than previous releases with “You Make it so Easy” and “Bittersweet” but more polished at the same time. You start this journey with the rougher sounding songs and then it relaxes into some balladry in the middle then goes up-tempo at the end with the poppy stuff like “One More Dance” and “Young, Charming and Funny”. Juveniles is almost like a loose concept album. You can see where Kingswood have been with this album, and where they are heading with new sounds and influences.
Juveniles has captured Kingswood’s live sound and brought it to their audience at a time where we are all going to be missing live music.
Juveniles is out now on all streaming platforms through Dew Process.
Also available on LP and CD through the Kingswood shop as well as other merch!
Reviewed by Bec Harbour
