Short Reviews [Kenny Mitchell - 2013

Having recently reviewed Kenny’s last two albums, of course the time is now right to go back to what is his best-selling work, 2013’s ‘Voyager’. It contains just two “songs” of 25 minutes in length, along with a small demo track at the end. Kenny provides all the instrumentation himself, and what is fascinating is the way he can bring in Floydian keyboards and Gilmour style guitar, or he can be driving the bass to create something which is pulsing and dramatic. It is the contrast between the different styles that makes this such an interesting album, as while crossover prog is a great way of describing it, sometimes it can be very symphonic, and it would be possible to edit sections out that would make the listener feel that they were listening to something from ‘Animals’ era Floyd. Although generally the production is very good indeed, and wonderfully sympathetic to the sounds being created, it is very much let down when it comes to the way the drums have been treated. For me the album actually works best when there are no drums at all, as while there are times when the drums are fine, there are plenty of others where they distract from what it quite a powerful piece of work. When the keyboards are providing a backdrop, the bassline is being slid up and down, the rhythm guitar provides the crunch, and there is an overdriven guitar solo, then that is when this album works best for me. I’ve only come across Kenny fairly recently, and he is yet another musician worth investigating. Don’t believe me? Check out his albums on Bandcamp and see what I mean.