Thursday, May 5, 2011

Kin: Dormant

     Kin is the solo electronic brainchild of Yung Hui, who explores the darker side of music with his downtempo drones, synths and glitchy beats. The album is available for download here, though the album cover to your left isn't the right one. Unfortunately I couldn't find the actual art at a good size, and for that I apologise.
     Kin's music concentrates a lot on atmosphere and as such vocals are appropriately absent from this twenty-two track record. Although much of this record is experimental electronica, there are definite hip hop beats backing nearly every track up as well. Most of the time they support the sounds from the back, and on others the rhythm is a very important part of the song. This blend of electronic sounds and rhythm is done in very much a dark way, constantly changing and constantly throbbing, with eerie fluctuating drones and moody synthesisers that never get repetitive or boring.
     An interesting part of this album for me, that helped remove possible repetitiveness, was the length of each song. Every track on this record is very short, with hardly any breaking through the two minute mark. Unlike some bands though, this doesn't make the sounds feel rushed. The feel of each song is already broken with different noises and sonic texture, so the listener never gets comfortably settled into a single track. Despite this, the album as a whole retains a unique and atmospheric personality that I enjoyed.
     Kin also uses sampled voices very well in this record, from a lady singing to a conversation at what seemed to me to be a restaurant. Instead of just adding a bit of variety to the tracks, though, they contribute to the overall feel of the album. In one track there seems to be a recording of a stadium, and the screams of the crowd turn into a crackling noise that Kin works over and creates something with, for example.
     Kin's instrumentation, if I can call it that, is another factor that makes the album feel more polished than other indie records of a similar feel. There are synthesisers, beats and sounds that all feel subtly added. Instead of being constant and loud, they differ and swell in the songs, from the soft and delicate to the near aggressive. If you want some experimental electronic music, that is very atmospheric and which feels carefully and  thoughtfully check this out. While not in the same league as Nicholas Jarr or Brian Eno when it comes to these elements, I enjoyed the sound from this guy all the same.