This Is The Kit - "Moonshine Freeze"

This Is The Kit, aka England's own Kate Stables, has been around for a few years now, churning out airy and light folk music.  Her debut, "Krulle Bol" is an album I have mixed feelings on for the most part.  There were bluesier tracks on there like "Moths" and "With Her Weels Again" that came off wonderfully, and "We Need Our Knees" was just too stunning to say no to.  But other tracks on here didn't really hit me as hard, and I just felt like contemporary folk artists like Laura Marling were doing just so much more captivating things.  This Is The Kit did, however, improve massively with her next album "Wriggle Out The Restless".  Tracks like "Spinney" and "White Ash Cush" were just the sort of lush, textured, and well-written folk tracks that I loved hearing.  On the other hand, some of the more stripped down tracks like "The Turnip" and "Easy Pickings" were far from interesting to me, and kept me from being completely enamored with this.  2015's "Bashed Out" on the other hand, I had some mixed feelings on.  I feel like Kate added in a little too many instrumentals on this album.  Tracks like "Magic Spell" and even the title track "Bashed Out" were just a little too busy for my liking.  Like, these weren't loud tracks or anything, but I feel like too many times the focus wasn't on Kate.  But, more stripped down tracks like "All In Cahoots" and "Spores All Settling" were enough to keep me interested in Kate's music.  So here we are, with a new This Is The Kit album.  And to be honest, the singles leading up to this have been pretty damn enjoyable.  Let's talk about this album, shall we?

   This album starts off with the very like “Bullet Proof”, and in a lot of ways yes it does indeed remind me a lot of the work of Laura Marling.  But in this case, I don’t really mind at all.  I feel like Kate’s vocals have gotten more and more soothing and lovely over the years.  Lyrically, however, this is a HUGE step up for Kate.  I just really love the comparisons of being Bullet Proof and not letting people hurt you.  Then we have the instrumentals, which are very warm and inviting.  The drums here are steady, the strings are very soothing, among other elements make for some of Kate’s most intricate instrumentals yet.  Plus, I really dig that line that goes “Everything we broke today, needed breaking anyway”.  “Bullet Proof” is a lovely intro.  But Kate is just getting started with us because “Hotter Colder” up next brings in some serious Folk Rock vibes and I’m loving it.  Just hearing Kate among these sort of more heavy instrumentals actually come off really awesome.  As this album rolls on, it continues to be chock full of some really great one liners.  I just feel like overall, this is a completely new direction for This Is The Kit, between her performances and her backing band just being so much more apart of her music.  It leads to a much bigger sound for sure, and more importantly, it really sets Kate apart from other Indie Folk artists.  Not to mention, Kate seems to have a whole lot of attitude on “Hotter Colder”.  Like, this track has a serious bite to it, and I can’t get enough of it.  And these instrumentals don’t let up either.  As a matter of fact, they just keep getting bigger, and that groove most certainly doesn’t let up.  What a damn track.  Up next, the album’s title track “Moonshine Freeze” is just an all around really great sound for Kate. I love the intros low-key groove that’s around just long enough to usher in her almost bluesy performance on this one.  Her performance here is seriously mesmerizing to be honest, and almost hypnotic, due to great one liners and the very bluesy repetition of lyrics.  It’s one hell of a smooth track, but it almost has a little Psychedelic feel to it in the very layered vocals as wells the continuously gigantic instrumentals.  I have no idea who Kate’s backing band is, but good on you guys.  “Moonshine Freeze” is BRILLIANT.  Then we have “Easy On The Thieves”, and for some of you, this is going to be just another really solid tune.  But for me, this one doesn’t really work, and for a few reasons.  First, I’ve never been a fan of This Is The Kit’s more folky tracks.  I just feel like Kate’s vocals don’t really do this sound justice.  My other issue is, I really feel like this doesn’t fit the vibe of the album at all.  Especially not with the very BIG sound Kate has been working with so far.  On the other hand, I do continue to really enjoy the very abstract lyrics as well as some of the excellent vocals and harmonies on this tune.  It’s an alright track, but it’s not the sound I look for from This Is The Kit.
    “All Written Out In Numbers” very quickly though reminds me of everything I’ve been loving about this album so far.  I love Kate’s very soothing vocals that start off so soft and slowly just keep getting bigger   The guitar licks that are floating right out of reach of her voice are great too and gives this track a gigantic feel.  There’s a lot of sort of Jams in here as well that gives this track even more room to breathe, and gives this an old school 70’s feel as well.  The backing vocals continue to be a great addition as well, and just make Kate’s very smokey vocals stand out even more.  The instrumentals on “All Written Out In Numbers” keep getting bigger, making for this huge swirling atmosphere that I honestly just want to hear more and more of.  So far, this is by far Kate’s most well thought out album to date.  Now, “Empty No Teeth” is a much more straightforward rock track.  But to be honest, this is actually a whole lot better than I thought it would be.  The riff here is really bizarre, in a good way that makes this one come off hypnotic.  It just get’s more hypnotic as Kate’s very bluesy vocals come in.  s this track rolls on, the very jazzy horns and dual vocals make this track feel like it has just so much depths.  It’s one of the shortest tracks here, but to be honest I would have loved for it to be twice as long.  Sadly though, “Riddled With Ticks” for me is the exact opposite.  This is the sort of light and airy folk track that I feel like doesn’t do Kate’s vocals nearly as much justice.  On other tracks here, I’ve gotten a slight Laura Marling and Regina Spektor vibe.  But tracks like “Riddled With Ticks” make me feel like Kate is almost ripping them off, or trying way too hard to sound like her contemporaries.  After hearing just how ambitious the rest of the material has been so far, tracks like this just come off so incomplete for me.  I do think though that lyrically Kate continues to shine wonderfully, and is still bringing her A-Game.  Then we have tracks like “Two Pence Piece” which seemingly out of nowhere sends us right into a straight up bluesy jam.  The bass licks are funky and the guitar licks are soulful, and Kate’s vocals and lyrics here are just so vibrant and colorful.  This is a pretty ridiculous change of pace for This Is The Kit to be honest, especially compared to her more stripped down Folky tunes.  I love the very low-key horns, as well as the seriously soulful instrumental backing Kate up.
    Kate, however, has a real hard time putting down these soft, airy folk tracks.  Tracks like “Show Me So” I just want Kate to leave in the past.  Hearing this track reminds me of just how forgettable her early work was.  Yes, her vocals are breathtaking, and lyrically this is still spot on.  But I feel like there’s little to nothing going on underneath.  But even her vocals do end up getting to me after a while and end up coming off a little one dimensional.  I really do want to like This Is The Kit’s more stripped down material, but I hear tracks like this and I simply can’t.  On the other hand “By My Demon Eye” is certainly stripped down, but comes off so much better.  It almost has a whimsical feel to it, and for a change, Kate’s vocals actually compliment this sound wonderfully.  I love the very World Folk feel to this, it almost has a sort of fantasy feel to all of this.  But to be honest, Kate pulls it off wonderfully.  Simply put, “By My Demon Eye” is something we haven’t heard yet from Kate, keeping this album surprisingly fresh.  This album ends off with “Solid Grease”, a track that’s 100% about Kate and her performance.  Her very stark and blaring, yet beautiful vocals start this one off with a band.  Instrumentally, I could have asked for maybe a little more for this one.  But for more of a stripped back tune from Kate, this is actually once again really solid.  I love the more folky guitars as well as the very light and smokey atmosphere.  “Solid Grease” ends up being a really nice, and most importantly personal finale.

Rating: 7.9/10

Give A Listen To: “”Hotter Colder”, “Moonshine Freeze”, “All Written Out In Numbers”, “Empty No Teeth”

Overall Thoughts:  I knew I was going to enjoy this album, but I honestly this is Kate's best album to date under the This Is The Kit moniker by far.  I feel like her and her backing band have some serious chemistry together, and Kate has certainly has brought her A-Game as far as one liner's and lyrics go.  But I do think this is going to be a little bit of a turning point for fans of This Is The Kit.  Instrumentally this is the bands most diverse and eclectic album yet, leading to Psychedelic Folk Rockers and Bluesy tracks as well.  If you're into This Is The Kit going for a bigger sound in that regard, you're going to dig this.