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Kes + Band = Kes 2.0

Laziness abounds – it’s another guest post. Elanor McInerney is a dedicated 3CR radio fiend. She’s also a thorough and well-spoken blogger at Symposiasts. And now she’s an outed Melbs compadre.

Last year, I saw Kes twice. The first time, in January, he was a solitary bird-like man playing gently transfixing bits and pieces in the support slot for Brooklyn-based, opera-meets-playground sister act, CocoRosie. And, because I am an impressionable sort, this meant that I devoted a substantial part of the rest of 2006 listening to two things – CocoRosie’s Noah’s Ark, and Kes’ The Jelly’s In The Pot. On reflection, diligence to this combination of albums has primed my brain for only one possible reaction to Kes 2.0 - joy. Watching him in December with band in tow and brandishing the new sounds of The Grey Goose Wing, well, it all made an immediate and exhilarating kind of sense from where I was standing. Indeed, I have convinced myself that Kes and I are kindredly like this in that our intervening months have been informed by the same realisation: playing what look like children’s plastic toy instruments and making barnyard animal sounds are exactly the sorts of things we need more of in serious music.

Now, it must be admitted that probably, I am not intended as the sole beneficiary of The Grey Goose Wing. So, let’s consider what you people might like about it.

Firstly, it’s still a Kes album. So it retains his distinctive vocal tendency to slide into atonality and out again with purposeful precision, as well as his peculiar mix of sustained song craft punctuated by floating bits of musical bric-a-brac and those undeniable pop moments, like the latter singalong half of “The Recipe” (which reminds me of “Come On Eileen” by Dexy’s Midnight Runners), or the vocal riffs that stick in your head for days (currently, the squeaky “be-ware, be-ware, be-ware” from “Irritating Gift” is doing the rounds in mine). So it’s definitely for Kes fans, but it’s also Kes with benefits. The Grey Goose Wing differs from previous releases because it sees Kes embracing a sense of fun. And I don’t just mean the obvious fun stuff, like the yelping and goose-y “ha-ha-ha-ha, whatchoo wah” on “Limit Me”.

Even songs that would seem to fit just as well on The Jelly’s In The Pot are made distinct here for sounding like they’re sung by a relentlessly grinning Kes. And I put this discovery of abandon down to the band. Listed as “additional players” on the album sleeve but very much indivisible from Kes 2.0, its members include Laura Jean and make contributions with recorders, harmonica and, most importantly, experimental enthusiasm. Song titles helpfully track some of their specific work, see “Paddy and Laura’s Vocals” or “Oliver’s Harmonicas”, but it’s my view that playing well with others was vital to The Grey Goose Wing’s eccentric and convivial achievements.