It’s not often that we get all the way to the end of a first listen of a track before realising we were supposed to be making notes on it, but that’s exactly what just happened with The Kid And I’s latest single, Fade Away.
Fade Away is so creative and imaginative that we were just enthralled. Whilst adhering to a kind of 90s grunge style, The Kid And I have produced something truly original that had the whole team nodding in appreciation throughout.
The layered vocals throughout the track are a great touch and the song is very stereo with lots happening for you to listen to at any given moment.
We always appreciate a band who know what they’re after, and so to hear that they described to their poor producer that they wanted the guitar solo to “sound like Godzilla coming out of the f**king ocean” made us laugh out loud, but go on…listen to the guitar solo and you’ll see that it really does!!
The thing that really does it for us in this track is the drumming. Incredibly creative, unique and interesting playing. The drumming here is an absolute masterclass in making the drums an interesting part of the composition rather than a background for the main instruments. We all shouted “wow” several times throughout the track. The fills are creative, the stops are awesome… we’ll stop – you get the idea and we really must give kudos to the musicianship of all members of the band here. This is superior performing and writing. We particularly also like the harmony vocals in the brief stop.
The stinger ending makes for a further exciting touch and all in all, this really is a truly great track. Lyrically important and touching on mental health issues and personal struggles, Fade Away not only delivers stellar musicianship, it also delivers a supremely important message.
From a production perspective, we’d suggest a little boost around 60Hz to give the kick a little more punch. The tuning of the snare at 180Hz is a little dominant and, to our ears, could do with being notched out slightly. Perhaps a boost of the top end – upper mids and highs, especially the top octave would add some extra zing and presence and again, to our ears, maybe just a touch more volume in the vocals for clarity.
One of our favourites this week, Fade Away is a fine example of superb musicianship, combined with excellent writing and creativity. We cannot wait to hear what The Kid and I produce next!