Review Summary: Chill vibes all around.
Say what you will about Koi Child’s debut LP: there aren’t many other hip-hop/jazz-fusion records out there that sound this
loose. The portmanteau of Australian groups Kashikoi and Child’s Play certainly has the talent to keep it that way, and even better, they have superproducer Kevin Parker leading the boards to give them that relaxed sound. Such a combination of circumstances can only lead to good things, and on their debut, it mostly does.
Parker, however, leaves the biggest impression here. The Tame Impala frontman lends a slightly old-school psychedelic aura to waft around the album, while simultaneously putting on such signature studio trickery as his beautifully compressed drums, which are probably the biggest highlight here. The group’s rapper/frontman Shannon “Cruz” Patterson gets a bit more priority in the mix, but nothing near the front-and-center, attention-grabbing status of other contemporaries. Rather, the backing band is placed loud enough to where a lot of interesting details can be easily distinguished. The ever-present electric piano swirls with just the right analog touch only Parker seems to be able to do, while the horns are a bit dirtier, almost as if they came straight out of a Sam & Dave number.
However, this doesn’t feel like Kevin’s project (like it did when he produced Melody’s Echo Chamber’s debut), as the band really shines in a number of spots from both a technical and songwriting standpoint. There’s a certain bounce in the horns on “Touch ‘Em”, a rocker of a number that also serves as an introduction to the rapper of the group. Patterson isn’t exactly engaging per se; his flow is decent enough, but the lyricism doesn’t really shine through with a lot of oomph. However, his lack of presence works oddly enough for the group, as the instrumentation is more than enough to make for a great song.
Elsewhere, standouts can be found throughout. “Black Panda” starts off with a pretty hard groove before shifting into a cosmic instrumental, and Patterson proves adept at handling the beat shift. Cosmic is a term that could describe “1-5-9” as well, with layered keyboard arrangements underneath some blissful saxophones. The album’s main focal point, however, lies in the album’s pseudo-closer “Japes”. It is perhaps the most psychedelically tinged track of the album, with a hip-hop groove stringing together the horns and filtered organs with ease. Such tracks make the record almost a breeze to listen through.
Unfortunately, that quality also hurts Koi Child a bit, as some tracks feel more insignificant than others. For one, the album kicks off with not one, but
two instrumentals, a bit of poor tracklisting considering that there isn’t another instrumental on the entire record. Both have good qualities, but they don’t feel like they have anything more to bring to the table than just the fact that they’re decent instrumentals. The same goes for tracks like “Cruzy P” and “Slow One”, both of which pass by without really too much to show for themselves other than the fact that they flow pretty well throughout the record.
But that’s kind of a nitpick in itself, because overall, these tracks really do lend themselves to crafting a very relaxed atmosphere the record presents itself as having. Koi Child won’t impress you with their technical skill, nor will they shock you with any sort of above-and-beyond songwriting. But what they do bring forth is a specific sound, and when it sounds this nice, who’s to fault them for it?
