Music Review // Kingdom of Birds "Kenny"

 

"Kenny" tells the story of someone which I feel like we all either know or at least knew someone like in our high school days.  They say he walks around with his pants down and also that his room smells like cigarettes.  It just feels like he's that type of kid that isn't bad, per se, but he looks older so he can get away with things that others can't.    I do kind of think of "Kenny" as being like Nelson Muntz in some ways.

This song by Kingdom of Birds hits musically hard and it hits fast.   There is this fuzzy guitar riff and also these big, crunchy guitars.  I'm reminded of the sounds that came closely after grunge.  Artists like Local H, Dandelion and Wheatus come to mind, though there are also elements of more recent rock bands such as Weezer and White Stripes coming through.   There is a Weezer song called "Paperface" which is even along the same lines just this one is closer to other Weezer sounds as well.

The percussion comes in hard and this one is just rocking.   In just under two minutes, Kingdom of Birds tells the story that they need to tell about "Kenny".  I like this because a lot of songs these days tend to be longer and sometimes you can get distracted by how they drift off and even seem to lose focus with a musical bridge.   The direct and to the point approach to this song is fitting and sometimes less really is more.

When you think about a band like White Stripes, you tend to think of this one catchy guitar riff just being played repeatedly.  The difference with Kingdom of Birds is that they have several different guitar parts in this song, but they all come together so quickly that you might not catch them the first time.  This is just a fun song and whether you're reminded of "Kenny" from "Can't Hardly Wait" or "South Park", there is just a little bit of "Kenny" in all of our lives.