Hampshire’s Kilkovec have a branding problem.
First they lure us into a false sense of moody security with ‘I Know I Don’t’, the opener of second EP ‘Sick of This’, coming on like Alkaline Trio having an existential crisis-induced gothic strop; the song’s upbeat, gruff-punk verses distinctly at odds with the half-speed hook that closes it. Then ‘Big Mistake’ somehow pulls off the trick of simultaneously channelling Off With Their Heads and Arctic Monkeys. By the time chorus-coated closer ‘Go On’ boots its Converse through your speakers they’re doing their best impression of Interpol if they all suddenly developed a penchant for 90s Grunge lumberjack shirts. Why don’t they realise we need bands who churn out identikit tunes as to be easily lumped into simple categories? Pure selfishness, that’s why.
Three years in the making, Kilkovec have been busy honing their craft – and it shows. Though imbued with the spirit of punk rock, there’s a sense of creativity and songcraft sorely lacking in many of their homegrown contemporaries. Seemingly straightforward, quiet-loud-quiet-loud-LOUD dynamics give way to pop-awkward breaks, the whole enterprise elevated by Daniel Wilson and Matt Stroud’s vocals, both unique and yet somehow saturated with every misfit icon from Ian Curtis to Matt Skiba. There’s an abundance of ideas on display here which belies both the EPs relatively short lifespan and the band’s unwaivering identity.
Bands from these shores have become far more successful with far, far fewer ideas and we suspect you’ll be hearing much more from the trio. We for one welcome our new Kilkovecian overlords.
ROB BARBOUR