ComfortComes

Review: Kashmir – Trespassers

I was first introduced to Kashmir while in Denmark in 2000 when their album The Good Life, which is actually their 3rd album, had been released a year earlier. They instantly became one of my favorites. It’s been a long 5 years since 2005′s No Balance Palace and a lot has changed. The previous album was quite dark in comparison to Trespassers’ more melody-driven optimistic sound. It’s great to hear a band evolve from one album to the next and Kashmir is a great example of that. The 1st song is the constant, driving, dynamic Mouthful of Wasps and it really provides the catalyst for the rest of the record. This album is led, more than any of their others, by singer Kasper Eistrup’s incredible voice. It has a unique melancholy quality and is equally good low and calm on Intruder as it is pushed to the limit on Mantaray and Still Boy. There is a bit more sophistication and ambition on this album with more production and a fair amount of orchestration which is used to great effect as what sounds like a dramatic movie soundtrack for the last minute of the album’s final song. But the songs are not overdone and remain cohesive. The lyrics are fantastic. The songwriting is super sharp. And the production and musicianship are great as usual. Like Mew, the drummer and bassist are quite comfortable with odd time signatures. This album offers everything from intense rock songs to epic melodic ballads. Trespassers is fantastic and so are The Good Life, Zitilites and No Balance Palace. To my knowledge Kashmir are still not released in the US but please don’t let that stop you from buying their music. They are absolutely brilliant. And in my opinion, the most underrated band of the past 10 years.