rainbow kitten surprise

Rainbow Kitten Surprise: ‘How to: Friend, Love, Freefall’

Posted on April 9, 2018 by Nate Bramel

On paper, Rainbow Kitten Surprise should be a complete disaster: A North-Carolina five-piece playing moody folk-rock music with spurts of rapping, paired an ultimately ridiculous name. Yet somehow, the band has beat the odds and gained quite a reputation for incredible shows and a distinct sound. On RKS’ third studio effort How to: Friend, Love, Freefall, the band is at its most confident and consistent in its career, with its best album to date.

The success of Rainbow Kitten Surprise stems from its brilliant frontman Sam Melo. The singer’s gorgeous voice and ability to change from soft to loud in a blink makes his voice a powerful instrument. The singer’s growth is fully evident immediately on lead single “Fever Pitch,” as the song begins with Melo’s beautiful falsetto (which thankfully is all over the album) before moving into a rapid-fire rap-like fury. Melo is not necessarily always rapping, but he certainly isn’t simply singing either, which serves as an ultimate strength to the album as the band refuses to fit under one genre.

The band’s vocal skills are on full display early on the record as harmonies between Melo and guitarist Derrick Keller are truly gorgeous. On an early highlight of the record “It’s Called: Freefall,” melodies and slow-building acoustic guitar help carry the song throughout its two brilliant minute runtime. The band’s softer side comes out on the album’s later half on the gorgous “Painkillers.”

That isn’t to say that every song is a wild success. “When It Lands” for instance is the album’s low point as the song tirelessly goes from slow to fast and features Melo’s most careless lyrics about good vibes and hanging out. That being said, there is much more good than bad on this record, including the aforementioned “Painkillers” which immediately follows and brings the album back into focus.

The record is at its best when it sounds more raw and experimental, especially on the delightfully grooving “Hide” . Melo used the release of this song to openly come out, as he sings to his Mom about a new partner. The song moves at a leisurely pace before a guitar solo that screams homage to Modest Mouse catapults the song into a remarkable uptempo filled with huge energy. That Modest Mouse sound is especially evident on the ripping guitar riff of “Matchbox” which is particularly reminiscent of “Dashboard.”

Friend, Love, Freefall is the first Rainbow Kitten Surprise album that works as a full piece of work, which is a refreshing aspect of this record. The songs work towards a greater tone of the record, not just to stand out on their own. The album sets the tone with a 30 second acapela opener “Pacific Love” and closes with one of the band’s most moving tracks to date in the keyboard led “Polite Company.” The band’s attention to detail and focus on creating a distinct sound shows great growth from the band’s subpar 2015 album “RKS.”

The album’s final highlights come with the remarkable closing sequence which begins with “Possum Queen.” The increased role of keyboards on this record greatly help Rainbow Kitten Surprise grow sonically without sounding overwhelmed with new sounds. Melo experiments with his voice as he wanders throughout the song curiously backed with a pounding drum beat that pushes the song in an exhilarating and unexpected way. The song transitions into “Polite Company,” that ends the record on an introspective note. The attention devotion to perspective rather than thrills greatly benefit the second half of the album as it helps change tone from the largely upbeat first half.

As a whole, How to: Friend, Love, Freefall shows Rainbow Kitten Surprise maturing by leaps and bounds as they not only continue to grow their sound but also grow in scope and focus. Backed by Melo’s compelling vocal performance and the band’s many risks, the album stands out as a truly great listen from start to end and is the band’s best work to date.

7.8/10

Show Review: Rainbow Kitten Surprise at the Georgia Theatre

Posted on April 4, 2018April 4, 2018 by Erica Kastner

Last time Rainbow Kitten Surprise played in Athens, Georgia, they played a single show at one of Athens’ mid-sized venues: the 40 Watt. Two years later, on Tuesday, April 3, they returned to Athens with Ohio-based folk band CAAMP for a show at one of the largest and most iconic venues in Athens: the Georgia Theatre. This explosion in popularity for the band in the Athens scene shows just how rapidly the band’s fanbase is growing worldwide. Rainbow Kitten Surprise, an alternative/indie group from Boone, North Carolina, fits right into the Athens music scene, and this showed during the concert by the sheer number of times the crowd knew all the lyrics to a song. Despite their rapid growth in popularity, the band hasn’t forgotten their history with Athens. After performing a song, lead singer Sam Melo asked the crowd who attended their previous show at the 40 Watt two years ago. Melo even remembered the name of the bar that he hung out with fans at after the show.

Rainbow Kitten Surprise made their entrance by walking out to a song reminiscent of “I Wanna Be Like You” from the Jungle Book soundtrack. The lighthearted song set the scene for the band’s stage presence throughout the show. The closeness between the band members could be seen in how they all interacted and joked with each other on stage as well as in how they fed off each other’s energy during songs. This made the show feel more relaxed as the audience got a peek at the comradery between the bandmates.

The band’s newest album, How to: Friend, Love, Freefall, is due for release this Friday, April 6, so it should be no surprise that the setlist for the show contained a healthy amount of songs from the new album mixed in with classic hits from older albums. The band started off with a hit from their soon-to-be-released album called “Fever Pitch”. As the show progressed, the band performed classics like “Cocaine Jesus” and “Devil Like Me”, which the audience ate up. The band lit up when the audience would unanimously sing back all the lyrics to these classics. Sprinkled into the set were a few more unreleased songs from their upcoming album. Some of the songs included powerful spoken word verses, similar to parts in older songs like “That’s My Shit”.

A variety of themes were explored in Rainbow Kitten Surprise’s new songs as well. Before starting one of the new songs, bassist Charlie Holt called out the devastating effects of the opioid epidemic across the United States before the band launched into a song exploring the suicidal and lethal effects that drug addiction can have on someone. One of the opening lyrics of the song stuck with me: “Try not to kill myself today”. The band isn’t afraid to be blunt with lyrics, and this heightens the emotional intensity in their music.

The emotional intensity didn’t come solely from the lyrics though. Lead singer Sam Melo performed the lyrics with a variety of expressions. On more upbeat songs, he would kick and twirl around on the stage in an odd way, but this only added to the energy present on stage. While he sang, Melo’s face would contort in various expressions and he would use animated hand gestures, almost as if he was acting out the lyrics or performing a free expression dance. Melo seemed to be telling tales through the lyrics as well as through his expressions and gestures, and this drew the audience further into the show.

The band exited the stage and promptly returned for not one but two encore performances. At one point during the second encore, Melo took off his shirt during “Run” and even entered the crowd at one point during “That’s My Shit”. The band left the crowd feeling electrified, exuberant, and content with the fact that there was no better way to spend a beautiful Tuesday night in Athens.

All photos by Emma Korstanje