KUNG FU - Magnetic Storm CD-EP

New EP from Kilmarnock band, and it took me about five plays of the opening track to realise what was bugging me about it. It's too clean!! The track opens with a sharp guitar riff, as the band drive in and these gritty vocals enter to deliver a slice of indie that rolls into this sort of angelic hook-cum-chorus and then rolls solidly on some more. But it's all too sharp, too precise, too clean-cut – goddamn, I want some dirt!! There's a twist to the song at the end where they soar into the chorus of the title and here they prove they can dirty things up a little, but by then, it's all too late. “Stranger” fares better with a fuzzier guitar riff intro that rolls into the rhythm section laying it down – only then for the roar to become a whisper as it all drops back to reveal this wimpy vocal and equally lite backing vocal. But, in a heartbeat, the vocal suddenly fines passion in the slowness, as the guitar suddenly rings out in a flying break, as they then head back into the verse, and repeat the process. There's still a lack of textural quality to it, a lack of real depth, but, for a slower song, it works a lot better, with a hook you want to hear and a guitar lead that fits like a glove, albeit on a song that you wish could have been belted out rather than squeezed. “Old Before My Time” is altogether pacier and harder, with more of a kick to it, and what keeps you hooked to this is an almost sixties blues swagger to the rhythms, a brief flare of guitar fire and the multi-tracked lead vocal, giving the song way more of a sixties feel than you would have thought they'd wanted, but, with its decided contemporary sound in there too, it's actually the best track on the EP. “Lost In Motion” ends the CD with a slower intro on what you think is going to be some kind of clean-cut indie ballad, but then the guitar slowly enters, the rhythms not far behind, and it takes on this blues hue as a slice of slowly swaying indie-blues comes into being. The harmony vocals on the chorus are a tad embarassing, and don't add anything to the end result, as the track, for all its sharpness, does largely keep your attention.

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