kenny 3‘s first album is a lot of things but mostly just unexpected and sad. A lo-fi melting pot of concentrated feelings, it’s meeeeee possesses a thought-provoking complexity that presents itself boldly. Minus the bass on the album’s most rockin’ tune (“tell me what you wanted”), all the music was written and performed by Evan Moffitt. Evan is a member of Philly indie folk band Maitland and also a fellow native of the Pennsylvania’s one and only town: Bloomsburg. Neither of those facts would have led me to suspect this particular collection of engrossing songs came from him.
it’s meeeeee will take you on a ride. That ride dips, dives, rockets, and sometimes soars but steadies itself in the little details. The album’s two beat-heavy ballads with poignant melodies find an ideal balance of seemingly opposing forces. “heaven bleeds” makes for the perfect droning dream of an opener, reveling in that swollen guitar. “like i love you” is bigger and more vibrant but it continuously whirs just out of reach with a very similar softness.
The sound effects lacing the album together sound like the unforeseen side effects of its emotional pour. Their ringing, pulsing and splattering create a wide world with depth and color that feels almost tangible. From the extended echoes in “pype dreem” to the slow swallow of “why’d you have to change the lock,” the fluttering of the tracks’ distant layers entices you further into a vacuum where words aren’t enough.
Evan’s guitar choices drive the flow and sense of urgent desperation. Gruff tones of guitar meet a light and gentle set of verses that climb together on the twinkling “ruthie” as desperation shines. Halting the set of songs with haunting grasp on a fleeting but important period in Evan’s life, “always was, always will be” speaks the loudest in quiet repetition against just an acoustic guitar. Evan’s tiny descriptions form a raw portrait of grief that the acoustic guitar grounds in simplicity.
Love lorn memories snuggly tucked in a fuzzy wrapping, it’s meeeeee is special without ever trying to be because it’s wholly honest. kenny 3’s collection has the warmth and subtle ingenuities of the best of Philly’s lo-fi output with a cavernous warping all its own.
Favorite Tracks: like i love you, tell me what you wanted, and pype dreem
