Black & Bloom Album Review

A line from Kingston’s Wikipedia entry reads “Kingston’s debut album (title unknown) is set to be released in New Zealand in 2011.” After pulling a Chinese Democracy their album Black & Bloom has finally been released into the world.

Black & Bloom has a truly international sound, owing to Brandon Friesen’s work at the mixing desk and Tom Baker (not the guy from Dr Who) handling the mastering. Look those guys up. Their discography includes almost every soundtrack to each day of my angsty teenage years. 

I’ve heard this band. You’ve heard this band. We’ve all heard this band. If I played you their debut single Good Good Feeling right now, you probably couldn’t place it, but you’d definitely recognise it. I might even make you feel like some KFC. Perhaps You Want It will make you want to buy a Ford Kuga.

If you loved Kingston’s singles and are dying for more, Black & Bloom is the perfect Kingston fix between ad breaks. The rest of the album, high energy pop rock with a new wave punk slant, is just as uplifting and infectiously catchy. Black & Bloom is best played loud.

You can find Kingston’s Black & Bloom on iTunes or at all good record stores.