BRUISED SKY

We Are Kin is a crossover prog band from Manchester, England, founded around 2013. It was founded by Gary Boast and Dan Zambras, who were backing members of a pop band. They shared a love of progressive music and eventually formed this band. Their third album, 'Bruised Sky' was released in July of 2019. This album consists of 7 tracks which span a total time of 47 minutes. Zambras plays piano and synths while Gary provides the drums. As far as other current members, Emma Brewin- Caddy is the vocalist and Lee Braddock plays bass.

The album starts off with a smoothly flowing 'Circles', an 8 minute track that establishes a laid-back, yet non-traditional sound. Emma's vocals are smooth and fit the music quite well. While the music is fairly accessible, it still has a nice level of ingenuity and originality. The music settles in to a level feel for the most part, but there are some unexpected sections as it continues, but it still stays with a soft feel throughout. 'The Fawn' continues with that soft vibe, but shows a bit more of a build as it continues and more emotion comes through. In both of these tracks, there is a degree of hesitation as it moves from different sections.

'Leave Me Be' has some nice piano and synth work, and the melody shows a bit more inventiveness, but the vocals at times seem a bit unsure or just a little off. The 2nd half of the track has a nice build with the drums becoming quite active in increasing intensity and emotion. There is just a bit of an uneasy feeling in there though like it's just not gelling as well as it should be. 'Bruised Sky' is a bit more straightforward, and at this time the music is in need of a bit more life. That dragging feeling continues in 'I Won't Go Back', and is starting to feel a bit amateurish. When the tempo kicks up a bit, it isn't quite enough to help the fact that things are a bit repetitive in the last half of the track.

'Nothing More' brings a bit more life into the album with a bit more gusto in the beat and vocals. The overall sound pushes for a more progressive feel and the structure is less traditional sounding than the last couple of tracks. Even when things become softer in towards the middle, it still has an advantage of being somewhat exploratory and atmospheric until the end. The last track 'Paper Boat' is the longest track at over 10 minutes. It continues in the more exploratory and almost ambient direction of the last track. There are some definite experimental sections on this one as it continues on, with some strange and oddly placed effects, almost tending towards an avant-garde oddness as it goes on, some spoken word with processed male vocals come in half way through, and the song goes off in some strange directions at times, only to return to the laid back feel on the last section.

This album has it's share of both high and low points, and even with the mostly mellow, laid-back feel through most of it, it doesn't always flow as well as it could. There is a bit of an amateurish feel too the album also, but I don't consider it all bad. The band does show some promise, but they leave a lot of room for growth here too. I would say it is a good 3 star attempt as there is room to improve, but they were definitely on the right track many times throughout the album.

'Bruised Sky' is the latest album from We Are Kin, and shows a quite different approach from the band. Gary and Dan had been joined on the last album by Emma Brewin-Caddy (vocals, harmonies) and Lee Braddock (bass), and 'Bruised Sky' sees the whole band making writing contributions for the first time. In addition, Dan had decided he didn't want any guitars on the album, so this time it is a rhythm section, keyboards, and vocals. The result is something which is very mellow for the most part, with far more attention to harmony vocals and vocal arrangements.

Various different studio tricks are deployed on some of the songs, but the band work best when they just play straight, as Dan has a good touch on the keyboards while Lee is a very strong, fluid and melodic bassist and Gary hits the drums with panache. The production is for the most part quite simple, allowing the music to have the space it needs, and Emma has a voice with considerable power. They again contain a lot of pop elements, and the songs are even more melodic and constrained than before, but they do allow themselves to stretch out here and there.

The result is an album which is pleasant, but not memorable in any way, and even though I played it far more times than normal nothing really stuck with me. I even had the feeling that if the tempo was upped then I would have been listening to something which could have been on the charts, which isn't something I would normally listen to at all. Interesting but not essential