Search - Kingdom :: K1

Fusing the jagged, hyper post-pop of the Arcade Fire with a pastiche approach reminiscent of Guided by Voices, the Kingdom are one of the most intriguing rock bands to emerge from Portland, Oregon, in several years. New wave synth lines, jingle-jangle guitars, cascading violins, that weirdly soulful voice: it shouldn't work, but it somehow does. Singer/songwriter Charles Westmoreland has one of those mouth-full-of-cotton-balls vocal styles, so it's hard to understand what he's going on about much of the time. Yet we are led to believe that this is a concept album having to do with going fast in motorized vehicles (sample song titles: "Driver," "Pilot," "Motorcading," "Racer"). This is clearly a band that could be playing mini-stadiums before long. --Mike McGonigal