This Is The Kit - Off Off On Review
This album is incredibly strong and definitely sees Kate Stables and co at their songwriting peak.
The first word that comes to mind when listening to Off Off On is sophistication. This is to be expected, given that the album features production from Josh Kaufman in addition to the merits of Kate Stables and This Is The Kit as a musical project beyond that. The humour that was felt in Moonshine Freeze is dead and replaced with a more serious and contemplative tone, though, leading to some insightful exploration of theme and a sonically sound final product with some admirable moments.
One such admirable moment comes at the very beginning, bring a hastiness to the opening track ‘Found Out’ with its acoustic guitar and banjo flutterings. This track gets the album off to a strong start. Lyrically, it speaks of that connection you have with someone and how it holds together even after not seeing each other for ten years. But what follows brings something less wholesome. There’s something harrowing about ‘Started Again’. Interpreting this song you get the sense of catharsis that Kate Stables finds writing her music. The trumpets are used in a larger way on this record and this is where you really start to notice it.
‘This Is What You Did’ is the lead single from the album. This track returns to the same urgency of the first track, now consumed with a much more anxious energy. This heightens that aforementioned tone, with a fairly ominous, anxious, refrain throughout. Lyrically, the imagery of weight holding you down connects this track to that cathartic theme that flows throughout this is album. Each time Stables returns to that chorus it seems that the track is stacking on the anxiety just as much as it piles on new instrumental additions that only serve to enhance. ‘No Such Thing’ is a sweeter track. Its mix is rich, with the guitars intertwining with one another in this track just gorgeously — especially on the chorus. This track is a great example of where the addition of trumpets has really given more of the album this extra edge. There’s an elegance to it that, coupled with the dreamy guitar parts, shows how This Is The Kit have grown since their last album.
The track ‘Slider’ has a complexity that we’ve not quite felt so prominently on previous This Is The Kit releases. The writing here has depth: nothing feels out of place in this piece of music in spite of its rising complexity. Lyrically, the track speaks of the feeling of not wanting to acknowledge commitments and thinking about how we let ourselves back out of things. This lends itself really well to the broader themes at play in the album and contributes to a lyrical depth and thematic richness that makes each listen, as with many of the tracks here, more rewarding than the last. What follows, ‘Coming To Get You Nowhere’, is one of the most beautiful tracks on the record and a vehement personal favourite. Its fluttering trumpets are so unique and dissolve into classic This Is the Kit strumming but with a continued sophistication. This track really sticks its landing, ending with its descending trumpet line.
‘Carry Us Please’ has a sombre atmosphere you don’t quite feel on the rest of the record until this point. This is another track where the lush trumpet arrangements really compliment Stables’ refined songwriting. This track’s lyrics explore leadership and leaders, and their ability to carry us, but questions whether that lack of self-responsibility only hinders us socially. It’s a slow and steady track, not as standout as the lead single or ‘Coming To Get You Nowhere’, but it’s a welcome addition.
Title track ‘Off Off On’ follows this up, interestingly existing in a time capsule of sorts. It feels as though this is the only track on the record that would feel just as firmly at home on their previous album, ‘Moonshine Freeze’. There’s this nostalgic simplicity in the chords, coupled with the arrangement’s lessened intensity, which grants the listener ample room to breathe before ‘Shinbone Soap’ takes the album on a detour.
But the ‘Shinbone Soap’ detour seems to be, quite sadly, where this record takes a turn. The track feels underdeveloped compared to other tracks, far too plain and sparse. While Stables’ vocals are strong, perfectly evident throughout the album, the delivery on this track seems weaker in comparison its predecessors. The boringly repetitive drumbeat does not do this track any favours, either, leaving it a pale imitation of the sheer quality offered by others. While there’s some lyrical strength here, and some palpable warmth that kicks in around the two and a half minutes mark, this feels a little too late to put the track on the same level as its forerunners.
Unfortunately, ‘Was Magician’ continues to leave this repetitive and almost boring impression that the last track left. The track almost redeems itself, again towards the end when the arrangement gets fuller, but the simplicity in this track doesn’t compliment the album as a whole.
Fortunately, ‘Keep Going’ is the last track on the album and one of the most peaceful but does not become so at the cost of instrumentation or production or depth. There’s a definite sense of optimism on this track that almost summarises the album’s thematic complexity. Feeling like a message of hope, perseverance, and faith in the future, when Stables sings ‘this love is still ours’ it almost feels like she does so on a planet-wide scale and that it’s a shared love. The piano that comes in midway through this track is one of the subtler highlights of the record and really compliments the well-earned, but not drawn-out, length of these closing moments.
The more complex arrangements and instrumentation are definitely some of the greatest highlights of the record. This album heals the soul. Compared to previous records this album feels amazingly detailed in its placements. The album talks about life and how it throws us difficult conditions and that it is up to us to get ourselves out of them and learn from them, whether together or on our own terms.
This album is incredibly strong and definitely sees Kate Stables and co at their songwriting peak. However, a few of the tracks fall short and undermine the consistency of the album as a whole, letting things down ever so slightly. The themes in this album and the catharsis Kate Stables and her adoring fan base clearly get from the music are what really make this record shine. Stables talks us through emotions and feelings we all have yet pushes us to, in her words, keep going. The production on this record is without a doubt This Is the Kit’s finest sounding album and the more complicated arrangements and frequent use of trumpets really enhance the album and shine a light of sophistication on the music. For the music itself, it’s often deep with emotion, the strongest of which seeming to be love and Stables’ deep desire for the listener to do exactly that for themselves and to grow from it.
