Kindness - Swinging Party

Moshi Moshi records are famed for show - casing some of Britain’s hottest talent. Bands including; Mirrors, Slow Club and the greatly adored Florence and The Machine are signed to the label. So it came as no surprise when the Kindness were plucked from obscurity and signed to Moshi Moshi via the aid of a mix tape. The debut single ‘Swinging Party’ originally written by The Replacements, was a slow acoustic love ballad fronted by Paul Westerberg’s western vocals, and assisted by the plucking of an acoustic guitar.


The sad walking home alone love ballad is no more. A modern and catchy dance groove that is worthy to be played at any club has taken its place, much to the disappointment of the 40+ audience that were hanging on to the original. A familiar disco beat begins proceedings with a lone eight bar introduction, a walking bass line is then slotted firmly into place to achieve the ridiculously 80’s sound that so many of today’s’ bands are mimicking. Nevertheless, the difference is, it’s so very annoyingly catchy, however much you restrain yourself from tapping, dancing, or even singing horrifically, non of this will prevail, the track is bound for a revival across clubs and dance floors almost anywhere. The lyrics carry a trademark drone – think Joy Division but in key, and one lyric that particularly stands out in my mind is; ‘Bring your own lampshade, somewhere there’s a party, here it’s never ending, can’t remember where it started’ for me it invokes the absurd image of people carrying utterly hideous 80’s lampshades to a house party!


The second track is still as 80’s as The Replacements’ cover, or maybe even more so, nonetheless it is incredibly short and lacks the substance that the previous number oozed. I feel ‘Gee Up’ is something that would feature on the beginning of a soap like Hollyoaks rather then a serious contender for a single. The only real instrument that speaks volumes in this track is the funkadelic bass line and combined with, yes, yet another 80’s style disco beat it goes together like bread and butter.
The Kindness’ live shows are very thin on the ground, with a grand total of; two. One of these ‘gigs’ being a self – organised party in their house in London (sounds almost Libertines – esque to me), and the other was a free for all at a venue in Kreuzberg, West Germany. Further ‘gigs’ are planned, almost certainly more 80’s inspired records will be set for release and with an ever – growing fan base the future looks bright for Kindness.