Hardly Credible Music Reviews with Kieran

Wind Up Bird  - Matthew Thiessen and the Earthquakes 2018, SMLXL To me, Matt Thiessen is a legend. He co-founded Relient K, one of the more famous Christian bands of the 2000s, and wrote most of their music, inserting himself as a favorite among any Christian who grew up in the 2000s. Another great thing about Matt Thiessen is that he never pinned down a "Relient K" formula; the music grew with him.  Air for Free , Relient K's latest album, is an energetic yet mellow album filled with Thiessen's skillful piano melodies and outstanding lyrics: fitting for a group of guys in their mid-thirties. Now in his late-thirties, Thiessen has gone solo and released his most stripped back and laid back work yet:  Wind Up Bird . The main instruments on this album are guitars, pianos, drums, and vocals, and Thiessen lays them down well. The easiest comparison I can make to this album is a dip in a cool lake in the middle of a forest on a hot summer day: in other words, refres...

Twin Fantasy (Face to Face)   - Car Seat Headrest 2018, Matador Records Seven years ago today, solo artist Will Toledo released Twin Fantasy , one of many albums performed, recorded, and produced all by himself. Originally released to Bandcamp, the album was praised by those who found it and it gained Toledo a cult following on the internet. Fast foreword a few years: After signing to Matador Records, forming a proper band, and releasing the lauded Teens of Denial  (2016), Toledo and company got to work on re-recording the cult-classic album, releasing it under the name of Twin Fantasy (Face to Face)  in February of 2018. The end result is a bigger and arguably better album that reaches beyond what Toledo originally recorded in his teenage seclusion. Everything about this album is outstanding. The energy of the performances blow me away every time I listen to the album and call me to dance to its invigorating rhythms on tracks like Bodys and Nervous Young...