Kin Faux Release Debut EP • An All-Around Winner

Release Party at The Machine Shop Sept. 27th

    icon Sep 24, 2018
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When we last visited our heroes, the boys from Kin Faux were fresh off two-fisted wins in the Country categories at the 2018 Review Awards.  When we spoke to them after the awards the band indicated their immediate plans were to begin working on a recorded debut and to hit the road as hard as possible, taking their brand of Texas-tinged country music to the masses.

Well, like all good cowboys, these boys keep their promises.  To start, they have hit the road, playing everywhere from Lapeer to Luckenbach and all points in between.

With the release of their self-titled EP, the band has put a firm stake in the “red dirt” music market, with six tunes that celebrate the songcraft and musicianship that was more common in the era when Country Music was considered “Western.”

The EP consists of six songs, recorded at Mainframe Studios in Nashville, with production by Bobby Randall and songwriting assistance from Bernie Nelson.

The band, which consists of vocalist / multi-instrumentalist Rico Gonzalez, guitarist Jason “Jakey Black” Helton, bassist Ross “RB Suave” Barkey and drummer Dan Currier is in top form throughout the record, starting with a very strong opener, “Water From A Stone.”  The song works the emotional search for meaning that is integral to the “Red Dirt” style of country music.  Built atop a yearning fiddle figure and a spot-on Gonzalez vocal, it is a great introduction to what this band is all about.

“Teardrops On The Rocks” is the type of song that would have been a floor filler at barn dances back in the day.  In fact, it serves that same function in their live set today.  Some things never change.

“Plainview” is a simply gorgeous tune.  If you have ever been driving down one road, wishing you were headed down another, this is the song you were thinking about writing.

If you look in the musical dictionary under “hook”, you will find may well some day find the resolution to the chorus of “Just A Wish Away.”   (I really hope she calls.  Wishes really should come true more often.)

It’s probably fair to say country music does one thing better than just about any genre:  longing over loss.

“The Last Time” reminds us that we never really know when that moment will be.

On album closer “Dysfunction Junction,” the band “unleash” the beast as the track announces its intentions immediately through a twisty-turny tornado of a Helton guitar part, which is a perfect match for a song about people with … problems.

If I am allowed to express such emotions in a review, I am so proud of these guys.  This is a fantastic debut.  The songs are good.  The playing great.  The recording highlights the songs, stripping it back to the band at its essence and avoiding the clichés of the current crop of pop country hybrids.

The band will be formally releasing the album at the Machine Shop on September 27, 2018.  Doors open at 7:00 PM.  Tickets are $10 and available at etx.com or at the door.

 

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