Interesting solo project from Sushirobo man.
A rather odd idea for a project, Head Like A Kite is a solo project for Sushirobo guitarist Dave Einmo. Taking its inspiration from the Super 8 films recorded by his family in the 1970s,Einmo has shaped his album around samples from the recordings. 'Random Portraits Of The Home Movie' gets off to a rather slow start with the odd sounds of the samples attempting to weave a thread through the album, which comes across as a rather ambient and detached affair.
A few songs in to this 15 track album things start to improve, with the majestic 'A Dime and A Cigarette' reminiscent of Eels and the near glam rock sound of 'Pour Me A Drink!' Asya from the band Smoosh provides guest vocals on 'Noisy At The Circus', an invigorating and confident stomp of a song both catchy and highly engaging. Its swift pace and memorable hooks also help it to claim a spot in your memory before it has even ended.
Followed by the more ambient 'My Crystal Trousers', which has no lyrical input aside from some muffled samples, the album begins another progression downwards. 'Injecting 10ccs of Temptation' improves things with another glam rock fuelled song, with a swift electronic sound and more catchy hooks. The last few songs seem to have little to offer, with more ambience and little structure, suggesting that maybe the album should have ended on one of its previous strong points.
The main downfall of this album is that the strongest songs are the ones with guest vocalists such as Asya Smoosh and Graig Markel of Crooked Fingers. Another detracting aspect is the amount of songs, whilst not a particularly lengthy album due to several brief instrumental tracks, the album's quality may have benefited from some of these being combined or eradicated altogether. The album is certainly innovative though and difficult to pin down generically with its glam guitars, electronica and beats sampling. Whilst it has its weak moments the stronger ones create a harmony, and this album is well worth seeking out for the standout tracks alone. The concept here is an interesting one which will no doubt work exceptionally well when it tours complete with live-mixed film projections of the Super 8 films.