indie-only purple vinyl version - Rainbow Kitten Surprise make fairly steady, workmanlike music. There’s a healthy dollop each of earthy folk, echoing gospel and polished indie, and it features up-front, largely beautiful vocals. This is music that has remained a constant in the indie scene over the past few years, and remains a uniquely American concept. There’s tonnes here for you if you’re a fan of The Lumineers, earlier Fleet Foxes, the rootsier side of Kings Of Leon, The Waterboys or flannel shirts, beards and Redwing boots.
Which is to say that North Carolina’s Rainbow Kitten Surprise have arrived fully formed, with a clearly defined sensitive-Americana aesthetic. But it’s in the music gets weird where they truly shine. There’s a Beck-like megaphone rap on Fever Pitch, which closes out a slightly-fuzzy, rhythmic slice of indie-folk. The clanging, industrial percussion that opens Matchbox gives way to a Strokes-y hyper-caffeinated guitar strut, and it becomes one of the better songs on the record by adding ever more textures. Seventeen years later, and the leather jacketed, oily stink of Is This It is still permeating modern rock. Meanwhile the country R’n’B groove of Hide is joyously constructed around a lean funk groove, featuring some exquisitely mic’ed drums.
| A1 | Pacific Love |
| A2 | Mission To Mars |
| A3 | Fever Pitch |
| A4 | It's Called: Freefall |
| A5 | Holy War |
| A6 | Matchbox |
| A7 | Moody Orange |
| B8 | Hide |
| B9 | When It Lands |
| B10 | Painkillers |
| B11 | Recktify |
| B12 | Possum Queen |
| B13 | Polite Company |
