Have you ever listened to an Andrew Kenny album? If you have, and enjoyed it, this record is probably for you. If you haven’t, this is for you too – while not representing any great change in Kenny’s sound, The Wooden Birds is him at his most raw and bare, offering a wonderful introduction to anyone looking to get into one of America’s hidden talents.
Kenny’s greatest strength has always been his main weakness – consistency that all too often verges on complacency. It’s difficult to tell whether it’s a lack of invention on his part, or a stroke of genius to simply keep doing what he’s so bloody good at, but it’s a consistency that in many ways may have kept him down. While contemporary Ben Gibbard has become one of the biggest names in indie, through an increasingly “accessible” series of albums, an electro-pop side-project and endorsements from all kinds of celebrity fans, Kenny remains relatively unknown, his greatest moment in the spotlight coming from a split E.P. he did for the Home series with Gibbard way back in 2004. A track from that set, ‘Hometown Fantasy’, finds its way onto Magnolia, and though in slightly different form, it essentially highlights that this is Kenny’s solo album, something he needed, for whatever reasons, to keep separate from his American Analog Set work. Sonically this falls closest to the hushed tones of that Home E.P., though it’s mainly the sparse production and lack of supporting cast that separates it from AmAnSet than any major lyrical or musical change of direction.
The biggest problem Kenny’s musical conservatism poses for me is that I just can’t find much to say about him. Like I said at the start, if you’ve liked him in the past, you’ll almost certainly enjoy this, and if you’ve never heard him before, this is a fantastic place to start. It’s full of everything that’s got him to where he is, only… quieter. And while it doesn’t sound like it, that is definitely a ringing endorsement.
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Good review this – I really like this album, but then I’m a massive fan of Amanset… just a shame I never saw ‘em live.
Hoping to catch Kenny live some time – saw him as rent-a-guitar for Broken Social Scene a couple of years ago and at ATP last year.
^ was kenny at ATP? don’t think he was man. not that it matters – i’m just beingn pedantic.
BRING BACK AMANSET. this album is just ok imo. good review tho.
He was there – don’t you remember me texting you saying I was standing next to him whilst watching BSS? You were probably too pissed ;-)
aaah yeah of course. he WAS there but NOT playing in BSS like he did at Scala. yes yes – i was getting confuddled.
and yes – i was probably pissed. but that is standard practice at ATP innit.
I am absolutely obsessed with this record, I’ve listened to it about 12 times in four days. I was having this discussion with a friend the other day when he put Know By Heart on in the car – how is it that Andrew Kenny et al manage to make what seems like perfectly obvious, simple beauty, but carry it off so spectacularly?
@snapes – know by heart is one of my all time favourite records.