The Kissaway Trail - 'The Kissaway Trail' (Bella Union) Released 23/04/07

The Kissaway Trail made a lot of new friends recently with some incendiary shows at the Camden Crawl. In the midst of such  feverish anticipation this, their debut album, can be said to be something of a disappointment. That’s not to say it’s a bad album, it’s OK but it shows them to be a promising band rather than perhaps the finished article just yet. The Danish group certainly have a well rounded distinctive sound -  a swirling, atmospheric almost  other worldly quality that pervades the music.  It’s a sound that can’t be heard without instantly being reminding of a family of other, American bands, whose European cousins the Kissaway Trail would seem to be.

The most obvious of these genetic influences is Mercury Rev - album opener ‘Forever Turned Out To Be Too Long‘ is a stately, swirling half song/intro that could sit reasonably comfortably on ‘Deserters Songs.’  The strangely named ‘Smother + Evil = Hurt ‘ – built around some a beautiful spindly, jangly guitar riff brings a little Granddaddy to the party, with still plenty of  Rev in the rather grandiose, poetic lyrics: “We are history…where were you when the light got defeated?” The Flaming Lips are brought to mind, meanwhile, on ‘It’s Close Up Far Away’ in which Thomas Fagerland and Søren Corneliuss‘s repeated “Did you know?” reminds of Wayne Coyne’s similarly asked “Do You Realise?” On ‘61’ they possess some of Arcade’s Fire pounding flagellation.

An 80s influence is also apparent. All the guitar and indeed banjo parts have a well produced, clear, melodic quality that reminds of Jonny Marr’s work with the Smiths and Electronic, The Cure, Ah-Ha or even Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel. 

The reason this album does not soar despite this musical ability is really is the absence of that sprinkle of gold dust  and inspiration in the song writing needed to truly lift magical, dream-like music above the everyday. There are a lot of tracks here that have great verses that build nicely but often the really sky-scraping chorus is sadly absent . The falling at the final hurdle creatively speaking is also indicated by the  number of songs whose lyrics unravel in to repeated “Na na na's" and there’s even a song called the ‘La La Song’(perhaps some leniency should be given on this point given English isn’t their  native language though).

Ultimately the album leaves the listener feeling a little under whelmed but with the sense the band have a chance of reaching the heights of their illustrious forebears in the future.   Something all those bands had or have which  they lack, however, is a really good name. I mean The Kissaway Trail?  What were you thinking  lads?