First off, it’s pronounced “Boy Plus Kite.” I know you were wondering.
Secondly, I wrote a post a little bit ago about Frank Smith’s new album and how they tried to market it (unsuccessfully, IMO) as Nineties nostalgia. They told more than they showed, and obscured the quality of some of their songs while trying too hard to sound like throwbacks on others. Within a few weeks, Boy + Kite released their EP We Can Go Anywhere We Want and showed them how it’s done.
Boy + Kite lead off their 5-song (but really 4-song) EP with a stellar track called “Right Above Me,” which sounds like “Pets” by Porno for Pyros filtered through Stereolab (until the chorus, which is more epic than either of those references). While the project has always been the baby of Darvin Jones and Beth Puorro, they have a secret weapon in the rhythm section of bassist Giuseppe Ponti and drummer Marc Henry. These lock in so tightly on “Right Above Me” that nothing could escape their groove.
On the whole, Go Anywhere illustrates a band that is much more in sync with itself than on their debut full-length Go Fly. On lead single “Fall” effortlessly moves between uptempo rock and the sort of spacey interlude you might find buried in the middle of Siamese Dream. The hushed male/female lead vocals from Jones and Puorro recall 90s-era Yo La Tengo in their intimacy and the ringing guitars only enhance the similarities. The other two main tracks – “Our July” and “All the Good Lies” – lack the energy of “Right Above Me” and “Fall” but are still top-notch pieces of atmospheric guitar rock.
If I had a criticism of the EP, it would be that it just doesn’t contain the stellar songwriting of Boy + Kite’s full-length debut. That record had songs like “One,” “Think in Stereo” and “Ohio” that stood above the fray and stick with the listener for weeks. “Fall” and “Right Above Me” don’t quite elevate to that level for me, but as a whole, I like the playing and sound mixing/engineering on We Can Go Anywhere We Want way better. It’s a solid album that shows a band continually growing and processing its influences into something that’s entirely original.
– Carter Delloro