Look, it’s really hard to follow a spasmodic and ultimately awesome post like D’s Tim & Jean one from yesterday. Already in a matter of hours, I’ve had people come up to me in social situations and ask me all about the song, as if they can’t read the little post tag that says ‘David’ at the bottom. I believe this happens to me quite often, and so I’m instituting a new One A Day guideline; “know your Seidler.” It’s not particularly hard, D’s posts usually have random abstract imagery accompanying the words while mine focus on the artist, and he’s much better at hyperlinking than I am. So no, for the record, the first time I heard of Tim & Jean was yesterday. Just like you. But let me tell you about someone I do know about. Her name is Kimbra and she is the shit.
Once a Kiwi, now a Melbournian (same weather anyway, right?) Kimbra’s got a pretty unique style going on right about now. The cut-and-paste vocals that introduce this song already belie something bigger than your average pop fare, complemented by a voice that swoops as low as it peaks. This is classic jazz intonation updated for the tech-age, all scats and doo-wops chopped and changed by one of the best knob-twiddlers in the business; Francois Tetaz. This is the guy who specialises in the lush, his work with Gotye is a formidable example, as is his recent turn with Kimbra’s labelmate, Bertie Blackman. From a purely aesthetic perspective, this guy’s work is heaven to your ears. And it helps that he’s working with some of the most dynamic women in the biz.
Anyway, I heard Kimbra’s track a while ago, and unlike the myriad tunes that I hear and then disappear into my Itunes library (which is currently bigger than the Facebook privacy legislation), I find myself constantly going back to it. It may be because the track starts off so darkly only to burst into colour in a move highly reminiscent of what happens in that move, Pleasantville. It may have absolutely nothing to do with that, too. Sure, there’s a lot to unpack, but at the core of it there’s a damn good voice and a damn good song. I was introduced to Kimbra at Splendour In The Grass and she’s altogether lovely. I really hope more music like this gets played on the radio, because as fun as it is, it also stretches your ears and we really don’t have enough of that at the moment.
Kimbra – ‘Settle Down’
While I’m on the topic, the man who introduced me to Kimbra was none other than Josh, who fronts One A Day‘s undeniably fave electro act of the moment, Miami Horror. Incidentally, in the lead-up to their new record which drops in two weeks, they’ve released a new, Stardust-esque banger, and you’ll never guess who’s taking vocal duties on it…
Miami Horror ft. Kimbra – ‘I Look To You’
What a bass line! What a woman! What a lot of exclamation marks! Get amongst it.
Join the Kimbra cult .
4 Comments:
[...] is the fearsome lady’s second single since she frazlled our brains with the delectable ‘Settle Down‘ last year, which thanks to some love from Perez Hilton, the whole world has probably now [...]
[...] huge.’ The last two years, the voices that have instantly stuck out have been women; Kimbra’s ‘Settle Down’ in 2010 and last year, Azealia Banks’ ’212′. Here at One A Day, we’re not prone to [...]
[...] as we’d like. The last submission I actually recall writing about was from none other than the lovely Kimbra Johnson, who sent us her first single ‘Settle Down’ as an mp3 almost two years ago now. Given the kind of rings she’s running around the globe at [...]
[...] in between Kimbra’s rapid ascension and every local artist with a bit of cash (Kristina Miltiadou, Architecture In Helsinki, the [...]
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