LIES
Lies / LIES / 2023 / PRC-466, BSM-316V
2023 has brought a lot of great new music releases, with LIES being the greatest surprise - it’s my record of the year (so far). LIES is the brilliant, unexpected brainchild of artistic cousins Mike and Nate Kinsella. It’s an album and project that started out just as electronic loops built in Reason that Nate sent to Mike throughout the pandemic. With Mike really loving them, he started adding guitars and vocals to send back to Nate as more evolved and structured song ideas. They both soon realized the vibe they had created didn’t fit within American Football. This was something new. This was Lies.
LIES is a brutally honest album that seamlessly blends beautifully curated samples with organic instrumentation in a way that I haven’t heard before. With Mike at the forefront of the vocals, the lyrics almost serve as a continuation of Owen’s The Avalanche - moody and nostalgic as he continues to confront his feelings surrounding his recent split. He wears his heart out on his sleeve in a uniquely clever way that will require a few listens to digest it all. Opening title Blemishes really sets the precedent - it’s a revolving piece that encompasses an owen-esque guitar interlude that leads into a violin and viola outro melody that lives rent free in my head. As Nate gallops on the toms and cymbals, an intrapersonal chorus unfolds - “I’m a student of the grossest anatomy. Of an archaic love where our two bodies meet. Blemishes and all”. The album is riddled with the lyrical catharsis that Kinsella is known for. In Echoes he exclaims “Maybe your true colors are lies. Do you bleed black and blue? Or is that a disguise? The echoes will fade in time…” while Broken opens with “Broken necks and broken strings. Broken you. Broken me. Broken vows. I broke fucking everything just to hear myself sing”. Fourth song Resurrection is one my favorites as it embodies an arpeggiated synthesizer loop reminiscent of 80’s pop that floats throughout the entire track as guitars bounce off of it. Nate’s big drum fills come in and out at just the right times as the natural strings make their way into the bridge and outro. It’s a gorgeous piece that hurts the heart - “Passive aggression and not so subtle digs. I built a house out of angry bricks. I bit my tongue until it bled. Blood in the sink. Blood in the bed. If my memory serves, even the wedding dress was red”. Final tracks Sympathetic Eyes and Merely coincide with one another as album closure. Sympathetic Eyes opens with electric piano and acoustic guitar tailored in a ballad style that builds with layers of treble keys from a grand piano and some more amazing strings, all while a New Years Eve countdown with fireworks occurs in the background. Just when you think it’s all over, it merely isn’t. The record closes with an incredible instrumental of acoustic guitar, strings, and harp dancing with one another. It’s a beautiful send off.
LIES was produced by Nate Kinsella. The albums art direction was created by Nate as well, with the graphic design put together by John Samels. The vinyl variant I own is the Early Bird Edition from Polyvinyl in exclusive Blue Twist, which I think looks so cool. The official music videos for Resurrection and Sympathetic Eyes can be checked out at the below links.
