Head Like A Kite – ‘Random Portraits Of The Home Movie’ (Pattern 25) Released 09/10/06

For any of those who are interested in the Seattle bands Sushirobo and Kinski, ‘Random Portraits…’ could hold your interest for little while. Head Like A Kite is Sushirobo’s guitarist Dave Einmo’s solo project, well, ‘solo’ is a term used loosely here as he shares a recording studio with a myriad of Seattle cohorts ranging from members of the band Smoosh, Preston School Of Industry and Crooked Fingers who all try their best to bring something cool to the buffet on offer here.

Head Like A Kite’s sound is one of a very chilled out nature yet comfortably cinematic in its delivery. Einmo’s family Super 8 movies can be heard playing in the background to almost every song giving a whole different narrative and bringing something new to the usual drums/bass/guitars/vocals formula. That is not to say that these elements are ignored by any means, the guitars are on driving form throughout the Kinski influenced tracks such as ‘Words Of A Friend’ and the brilliantly catchy ‘Your Butt Crack Smile’ that gives a bow to a little brit pop suede era with a little post rock thrown in to mix things up a little. From there it’s kinda down hill. Einmo’s directions seem to lose their poignancy to over indulged electronica and chill out tunes. Ok you’ve got a great pop song in the form of ‘A Dime And A Cigarette’, but it’s the utterly horrible tracks like ‘Pour Me A Drink’ with it’s downbeat chords that tries so hard to be the new Interpol, that it all comes across amateurish.

‘Noisy At The Circus’ attempts to pick up the droning guitar patterns that captured your attention the first time, yet it is the lazy delivery in Asya’s voice that drags this song down. The skip button on your remote becomes your best friend after a while here as all songs on ‘Random Portraits…’ meld into one continuous drawl. It is obvious that Einmo has tried to create something of a Mad Hatters tea party of all his Seattle friends in bands. Sadly it hasn’t come across like the great melding of minds that he has envisioned, more it is a mish mash of song styles with an electro/sometimes guitar fused sensibility. Something that is not particularly new or interesting.

His use of his family’s old movies gives a great start to the album, and comes across as a decent idea, it is just a pity that he couldn't develop a promising aesthetic into an album with lastability. Stick to listening to Kinski.