Kim Richey
Every New Beginning
Yep Roc Records
Delicately Complex, Beautiful and Nostalgic Character Driven Songs To Wallow In
I’ve been a fan of Kim Richey after first seeing her at The Jumpin’ Hot Club in Newcastle where she’s been a regular visitor over many years.
Of her albums that I’ve subsequently reviewed this has possibly been the most difficult for me to decipher and put words to paper; not that there’s anything wrong here – the opposite actually; as every time I’ve sat down to start writing I barely get past the second song when I find myself kicking back and wallowing in Ms Richey’s delicate musings.
The opening song here, Chapel Avenue is a charming look back on life when our biggest worry in life was ‘not falling off our bikes when popping a wheelie!’ and while the story is very personal to Kim,
“Skateboards and lemonade stands
4th of July parade bands
Creature feature matinees
High dive – I double dare you
Hormones enough to scare you
Day dreaming summer time away“
but her memories will resonate with everyone who hears it in one form or another, and she’s correct in opening the record with it.
While some of these songs come from the Covid Era, several are older still and finished off then and later while Kim was collating tracks for this project; and that gives the overall feeling that you get an emotional and melancholic aftertaste when you hear the likes of Joy Rider, Take The Cake and especially for me, Feel This Way all of which are distinctively Kim Richey Songs … but ones that she probably couldn’t have released until now.
While the production throughout is rock solid; allowing Kim’s voice to take centre stage while the beautiful melodies and tunes float effortlessly in the ether behind her; there’s often a deceptive fragility to the stories in the songs; I’m specifically thinking of Goodbye Ohio and Moment In The Sun, but there are others this applies to as well.
One of the songs I first found myself ‘wallowing in’ was A Way Around and it wasn’t until I found myself listening on ear-pods while on a bus journey that the words and story hit me like a punch to the jaw …
“Drop the needle on your favorite sad song
You’re not the only one
Whoever got it all wrong
Just another lonely one“
is only one verse; and it’s a song that everyone will interpret to fit their own feelings and lives; as I did.
I know it’s getting boring when I say ‘this album needs to be played in order, from start to finish’ … but it really does; it’s far from being a ‘concept album’ but it’s patently obvious that a lot of thought has gone into the running order, which begets a rollercoaster of emotions that you will kiss otherwise.
For my Favourite Song, I’m going left of centre and spinning a coin between the Celtic/Appalachia tinged Come Back To Me which is strikingly beautiful and nothing like anything I’ve heard from Kim Richey previously; and the other, which is something of the Polar opposite, The World Is Flat which I take to be a metaphor for a relationship that isn’t as ‘perfect as first hoped for’ and everything the protagonists thought they knew about each other gets turned on it’s head and perhaps The World (really) Is Flat after all.
“It’s hard to be kind when you’re caught in the middle
The best we can do is try and be civil
We twist and we turn but, we can’t solve the riddle
We’ve come to the edge of the map
Only to find that the world is flat.“
and the brass section that separates verses will bring a tear to a glass eye!
It behoves me to describe this as Kim Richey’s ‘best album’ …. it isn’t and can’t be, as each album she’s ever recorded has been impressively different from its predecessor over the years; but I do think it’s the perfect set of songs not just for her at this stage of her career … but us as listeners/fans too.
Released May 24th 2024
https://kimrichey.com/news/
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https://kimrichey.com/discography/
https://kimrichey.bandcamp.com/album/every-new-beginning
The Rocking Magpie 