King of Prussia
Save the Scene
Kindercore
Save the Scene is an apt title for the much-missed Kindercore Records comeback to the indie pop music soundscape. King of Prussia might not ring a bell by name alone, but the band’s music contains all the signifiers of weird pop from the southeastern corner of the country. The opener, “Spain in the Summertime” has a lush murkiness, like Tony Doogan-era Belle & Sebastian, where everything is positively dripping with reverb and the traded boy/girl vocals couldn’t be more pleased. Byrds-ian country tints color “Cheerleaders” via a lonesome acoustic strum, banjo leads, and broken slide guitar. “Shades of Hippiedom” is bubblegum pop with a mature air of Apples in Stereo before they dumbed it down for the kids and “The Doctor and the Mathematicians” is pure Leonard Cohen balladry, pitting sciences against each other on a field of piano keys to explain love. This EP might not be as instantly arresting as some of Kindercore’s back pages, but it definitely recalibrates the label’s sound on solid ground and whets the appetite for what’s coming next.
Kindercore: http://www.kindercore.com
