Kingsley - Jilted

The Seattle of the 1990's was a really fucking special place. Everything you read, everything you've heard, everything you've seen on TV, all of it is true. The bad part is that none of it can really express the magic of the time & what it meant to everyone around -- whether you were watching or participating. As part of the mayhem, I often had the good fortune of seeing Harris Thurmond play with the now-defunct and seminal Seattle band Hammerbox over the years. He was always the stoic, stand-up player with the striking Nordic looks and a guitar prowess that could only be described as categorically peerless. Since Hammerbox, Harris has been part of the well-loved Seattle bands Sanford Arms and Orbiter, both of which had been on hiatus until recently.

Harris hasn't rested on his laurels -- he has never been one to sit idly by and let the johnny-come-latelys try to panhandle their way through musical hipster hucksterism. He always ups the ante. So he has brought us the self-titled release from his latest group effort, Kingsley. Kingsley is an album of fun, unpretentious pop rock and roll songs spanning two decades of influence. You get your chunky noise-rock guitar blended in with tasteful indie rock nuances and sprite electronic arrangements. The end result is neither entirely new wave nor entirely rock and roll; it reminds me of Graham Parker engaged in a waltz with The Dandy Warhols, ultimately generating quirky gems in a direct line with the music that put the great American Northwest on the music map.

Harris has made immense progress as a songwriter and performer since I saw him with Hammerbox, and Kingsley is hard evidence that he and bandmates Jeff Wood, Robert Dent, and Billy Brush have found a groove worth exploring. After hearing this CD, I really think they should stick around to show some of these young punks a thing or two about how it's done.

BONUS TRACK: Stammer and Stutter