The Kingsbury Manx

Description

You'll hear the precedent for The Kingsbury Manx in the dustiest corners of Simon and Garfunkel's Bookends, in the tender devotionals of the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds and on the sun-baked gospel-soul of Lambchop's Nixon. Idle comparisons maybe, but it's true that The Kingsbury Manx talk louder through their music--and in particular, such heavenly reference points--than through any carefully contrived image or soundbite. Best kept secrets of Chapel Hill, North Carolina--so much so that when they emerged with this debut album, local commentators refused to believe that it was their work--The Kingsbury Manx are four shy, retiring college graduates writing songs that invigorate the rock form in a way unseen since Built To Spill's Perfect From Now On. This is an album of exquisite moments--check the spine-tingling slide-guitar whirl of "Blue Eurasians", the gorgeous acapella glide of "Hawaii In Ten Seconds", and frontman Kenneth Stephenson's emotive choral pleas on "Piss Factory". While it's true that The Kingsbury Manx is no stone cold classic, this is merely the springtime of their existence. A glorious future beckons. --Louis Pattison