Heypenny - A Jillion Kicks

Heypenny
A Jil­lion Kicks
Self-​Released; 2011

If I could give Heypenny one piece of advice, it would be this: if you’re going to bor­row from Kevin Barnes, you bet­ter be ready to give it your all, and do so at all times. For a record that ably and fre­quently dis­plays how tal­ented and high-​energy this Nashville, TN out­fit is, A Jil­lion Kicks actu­ally comes across as a bit too straight-​forward and for­mu­laic a take on the style of indie rock cham­pi­oned by of Mon­tréal. Com­ing across as a smart-​aleck kid brother to Skele­tal Lamp­ing and False Priest, this thirteen-​song record leaps about with and exults in the sort of glee­ful white man’s soul-​funk that Barnes has cham­pi­oned for his past three albums.

Yet, for all of the superb power-​pop good­ness that floods this music, the band still feels a bit too depen­dent upon quirky aes­thetic devel­oped by Ele­phant 6. Though they’re played with an impres­sive pro­fi­ciency, we’ve already heard these arrange­ments and pro­duc­tion traits. The excel­lent syn­co­pa­tion in the peppy, dancey drums sets the stage for the other par­tic­i­pants. Gui­tars slink and slide about, serv­ings as flour­ishes and melodies, while the bass pro­vides the chord move­ments. The var­i­ous synths and organs frolic about the mix, while the breathy female back­ground vocals serve as a foil to the lead singer’s tenor (that occa­sion­ally turns into a falsetto bleat).

I’m really impressed with what I hear on tracks like “Parade,” “Emperor’s New Clothes,” “Cop Car,” and “Give Me The Ball.” These cuts dis­play a hun­gry, eager band that pos­sesses an innate capac­ity for know­ing when and how to tweak the flow and instru­men­ta­tion to keep things fresh. Yet, there are offer­ings like “You Shine,” “Ticket,” “Pretty Day,” and “Angles And Arches” which present the album as a study in dimin­ish­ing returns. The songs aren’t bad in and of them­selves, but they’re not really that orig­i­nal or inter­est­ing, thus dimin­ish­ing the impact of the really good songs.

Ulti­mately, I’m torn here in the sort of ver­dict I should deliver, because it’s obvi­ous Heypenny is filled with very accom­plished musi­cians and arrangers. A Jil­lion Kicks is the record that MGMT could have cre­ated, if only they’d been fol­low­ing the lead of Apples In Stereo or Wolf Parade, and not try­ing to re-​invent them­selves as Brian Eno wannabes. This music is fun, up-​tempo, high-​energy, and ready for a night out on the town with its friends; unfor­tu­nately, it’s also a bit too car­bon copy at times. By focus­ing too much on hit­ting the exact notes and vocal tones of Barnes with the appro­pri­ate skill and acu­men (which is never a bad thing in any sit­u­a­tion), the group for­gets to pay the nec­es­sary atten­tion to the off­beat style and flair that gives of Mon­tréal (and that band’s influ­ences in Prince and David Bowie) that not-​so-​subtle edge and mystery.