Simple Kid

Listening to the story of Simple Kid (aka Ciaran McFeely), you’d think it was something stolen from a made for TV movie by some record label trying to play on the music listening world’s heart strings. After attempting to make it in the music world, the young Ciaran, just a simple kid from London after all, retires from the music industry in frustration, taking up work as a video store clerk, seemingly done with music forever. After a change of heart, however, he gives it one more shot, and after a year of hiding out in his London home making music, McFeely breaks out once again in the music scene, surprising old fans and making new ones in the meantime. Fortunately for us, regardless of the validity of the more touching aspects of the story, Simple Kid has returned, and brought with him the succinctly titled 2.

Despite the moniker, Simple Kid’s music is usually anything but simple. Although the album was originally recorded on an old cassette recorder at McFeely’s home, the kid couldn’t stop there. He then took the tracks to the studio, played with them a little, and then re-recorded them back on the original cassette recorder. The result is a crackling, distant feel that’s strangely comforting, like listening to old records or well-loved tapes. It almost adds a layer of nostalgia to the album, as if you’ve just re-discovered an old record that you somehow misplaced within your vast collection.

This feeling is maintained through a number of the tracks in the album, most especially on “Old Domestic Cat.” With only an acoustic guitar, McFeely’s voice quietly croons “Don’t want no lover, or troubles like that, just want to stay at home like an old domestic cat.” The song is simple and sweet and is reminiscent of pleasant 60s folk numbers. “Self-Help Book” also has a retro feel, but this time it’s a tongue-in-cheek play on “mountain-style” folk songs. With steel guitar, foot stomping beats, and a vocal style that at times sounds like a throaty old man, McFeely advises “If you get drunk tonight, you’re gonna fall down… If you eat too much sweets, you’re teeth will turn brown… Buddy, it’s as simple as that.” The song is at once ridiculous and infectious, making it impossible not to tap your foot to the beat.

At the best points of the album, it’s this combination of pounding beats and pure fun that make 2 really work. The opening track and single, “Lil’ King Kong,” takes a country rock groove (complete with banjo) and adds hip-hop beats, a chorus of voices, and a scattering of samples. All of these disparate parts join together to become a fun and heady mix. This combination has also lead to countless comparisons, fair and unfair, to Beck. While it’s impossible not to make the comparison, since Beck pretty much invented the hip hop-meets-folk guitar sound, it’s also easy to use it as an excuse not to judge McFeely on his own merits.

Where McFeely does fall short is in actual songwriting technique. While all of the songs have a great sound, many of the middle tracks lack structure, making it difficult to remember specific details or a melody after the initial listen. Some of this may be due to the actual order of the album, with the three strongest songs (“Lil’ King Kong,” “Self-Help Book,” and “Old Domestic Cat”) within the first four tracks, making the latter half of the album feel more like filler. In the end, however, it’s not enough to spoil the entire album. Although a video store may be mourning one of its lost clerks, the music world should certainly hope this sequel turns into a trilogy.

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