kindo-human-convention-premiere

Photo: Joseph Secchiaroli

Kindo Reemerge with Bombastic Funk/Jazz/Pop Intricacy on “Human Convention” (premiere)

The opening track from Kindo's upcoming record, Happy However After, is a wonderfully lively and complex ride.

For the past decade or so, New York pop/prog/indie rock troupe
Kindo (f/k/a The Reign of Kindo) have been blowing away listeners with their genre-shifting mergers of bombastic instrumentation, soulful melodies, and tight harmonies. Although comparisons to groups like the Dear Hunter, Emanuel and the Fear, Snarky Puppy, the Family Crest, and Umphrey’s McGee are warranted, Kindo always maintains a distinctive and striving recipe. Case in point: “Human Convention”, their latest single (and the opening track of their upcoming studio LP, Happy However After). Mixing their typical pulsating complexity with a renewed burst of danceable funk/jazz/pop sleekness (reminiscent of artists like Bruno Mars and Justin Timberlake), “Human Convention” showcase just how well Kindo can merge the fresh and the familiar.

It’s been several years since Kindo delighted fans with their last record, 2013’s
Play with Fire, so it’s no surprise that “Human Convention”—like Happy However After as a whole—takes a bit of influence from the current mainstream musical landscape. That said, it still maintains everything that fans adore about the group, including sophisticated rhythmic changes, colorful, multilayered timbres, and dazzling vocals. Few other bands ever create tracks as gorgeously intricate yet accessible as “Human Convention”.

Singer/guitar Joey Secchiaroli adds that that song relates to how “we often experience our lives through the filter of conventions, such as time . . . money, science, politics, etc.” While doing so allows us to “chop our experiences . . . into concepts that we can understand communicate to each other”, it can also lead us to mistake these things “for reality itself, [which] can give rise to suffering in ourselves.” Also, he says that the track “plays with time, tempo and feel . . . [to] complement the lyrical theme. . . . the music was written first and completely inspired the lyrics.” Ultimately, he concludes, the song should remind listeners to find joy in every aspect of life, adding that “adverse” and “challenging” exercises usually lead to “rewarding” experiences.

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