Todd Mckenzie | Death To My Kingdom | CP005CD
01 | 14Kings 02 | Backdrops 03 | Cynic 04 | Wherever Here May Be
05 | Quiet Night (I Will Never Ask That Of You Again) 06 | Happy When Apart 07 | Passion
08| Saying His Prayers 09 | No Past, No Pain, No Character 10 | Islika 11 | Another Sunday
12| I Wish I Could 13 | Going In For A Kiss/Is That Rain? 14 | Fade Away 15| Something Beautiful
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This is Todd Mckenzie's second full length release with CP and its clear that Todd has not stopped pushing the boundaries musically nor lyrically. Even the concepts behind each track could be discussed at great length (and believe us they have been!). It would be extremely difficult to sum this album up without taking a detailed look at each individual track since no point is repeated and even his sweeping cross-genre stylings never remain static.
To start with there's the title: 'Death To My Kingdom'. It seems Todd has not lost his bleak yet humorous attitude to place and space, possibly suggesting the destruction of possession, status and distraction to make your way to a true path... though we wouldn't be so presumptuous as to state it.
'14Kings' gives an extremely uplifting start to the album. Major chords drift over the firm driven beat almost making you unaware of the unusual timing. While 'Happy When Apart', another of Todd's instrumentals, is a wonderful collage of sounds and randomly layered claps compiled in to an almost daydream of a track which comfortably and in its own time, makes its way through to the more melancholic and straightly driven second half of the piece. These tracks are interesting in both time signature and layout, giving us many sounds, samples and touches to listen out for and also displays Todd's clear interest in percussion, with truly intricate rhythms that even experimental jazz enthusiasts will find intriguing. Indeed it will come as no surprise to learn that Todd has a keen interest in drumming and even sources many of his loops and samples from his own drum sessions. Other instrumentals such as 'Going In For A Kiss/Is That Rain?' and 'Something Beautiful' show Todd's clear love for soundtracks and seem to be his more fluent approach to music. 'Sometimes you just have to feel where the sound takes you'.
In 'Going In For A Kiss/Is That Rain?' playful hi-hats dance in stereo to the progress strings while consistent blows of sub bass and steady rim shocks in reverb mesmerize the listener and place them in to a trance. Similarly it is difficult not to be taken in by the albums closer 'Something Beautiful'. A stunning soundscape, which builds on a consistent piano lead with waves of tone and delayed feedback, which gradually grow and almost engulf the track giving the piece a curious life and personality of its own.
Vocal themes seem to range from a profound look into abstract subjects to working on personal and even intimate issues. Tracks such as 'Wherever Here May Be', a synthy and almost sci-fi soundscape, which could easily hold the logs of captain jean-luc Pickard on the Starship Enterprise and boldly go where no track has gone before, the lyrical content taking the same frontier. This atmospheric backdrop is guided with yet another interesting beat that was obviously sequenced with a great deal of care and thought. Swelling strings and a beat cushioned with reverb sets the dramatic canvas of 'Fade Away'. Here Todd offers strokes of a bittersweet nature backed with a 'no regrets' attitude.
'Backdrops', a straight up smoothly flavored hip-hop trap and 'Cynic', a very pretty singer-song writer piece filled with twinkling keys, picked guitars and brush stroked snears loosely holding pace for the softly sung verses. Both observant looks into motivation, relationships, interaction and reaction. And while to say Todd 'wears his heart on his sleeve' is an understatement; interpreting this frequently exposed heart is often not as simple as it first seems.Be ready for the occasional double bluff or ambiguity within the subtle nuances of his work. Just take 'I Wish I Could' for example. Here we have the deep warmth of a kick, which is almost the irregular heartbeat of the song, and the growing samples along with breathy almost whispered vocals, which sweetly project a hart in agony. But to the question concerning 'I Wish I Could', is this a track to state he simply cannot or is it in fact a subtle plea for help? Todd's lyrics are truly intricate, allowing a wide range of interpretations; often an encouragement to question our own thoughts as much as a statement of his own. Whether there is ever a pre-determined definite meaning for the listener to arrive at is sometimes unclear. Often it seems he will not direct you, but instead leave clues everywhere. Even when questioned in person Todd remains elusive. You may even ask whether Todd himself knows the answers.
Todd also remains elusive to the point of refusing to comment on certain of his 'field recordings', i.e. largely phone messages hauntingly eminent on the dark and melancholic 'Quiet Night (I Will Never Ask That Of You Again)' and 'Islika'. While he has always assured that they are in no way staged, we are left to wonder as to how 'close to home' they were. A mystery indeed.
All this is not to say the album is all work and no play. The humorous elements and laughter within 'Another Sunday' and the bass-driven, UK hip-hop of 'Passion' featuring Pete Heat and James Flames, indicate the fun that Todd can have in his music. Although as one may expect this is no light-weight, bubble-gum pop and sees Pete Heat deliver a most memorable phrases 'It's now or never, cos its never not now' - at once amusing and yet memorable.
In a sentence: -
Another extraordinarily diverse album. Instrumentally unique and lyrically astute.