The Kestrels - Primary Colours

By: Andrew Horan

The Kestrels
Primary Colours

(No Yes)

SOUNDS LIKE: Well-played yet fairly generic East Coast indie pop.

There must be something strange in the air or water on the East Coast of Canada because the region seems to produce an absurd number of fuzzy guitar pop bands.

The debut long-player from Nova Scotia's The Kestrels is no exception. The distorted opening one-two punch of "Sailed On" and "Our Velocity" hearkens back to the early-'90s when bands like Sloan and Eric's Trip ruled the roost. This starts to wear thin by the time the plodding third track rolls around, but the band does show some signs of life by mid-point of the album. The fast-paced "Ridicule" rocks pretty hard. They dial down the fuzz for "Take the Picture" and it's probably the best song on Primary Colours.

Overall, it's a mixed bag of tunes that seems to swing wildly between heavy-on-the-distortion rock to more straight-ahead guitar pop. The final track, "Light and Sound", does show some signs of promise with its acoustic intro but it quickly turns into a clichéd start-out-quiet-then-get-loud-at-the-end number.

While this may not be the strongest release, the potential is definitely there for The Kestrels and if they can find a way to make it work, they'll definitely bear watching.


Video: "Ridicule" by The Kestrels

^{Posted: February 15, 2010}