Despite their chirpy use of exclamation marks, Kitten Pyramid do not flinch from the gradual pain of human existence.
Their 2013 debut Uh-Oh! was dedicated to principal songwriter Scott Milligan’s uncle, who lived with mental illness his whole life, while Koozy!! is in memory of Milligan’s mother, an MS sufferer who succumbed to COVID.
From the just-off-kilter brass and chug of the title track to the Van Dyke Parks-like strings of Leggy Friend and throughout, each of these jewel-like songs is individually crafted and coloured, full of appropriate twists and turns.
- “Some bands would think such an unlikely chart-topping feat would require them to lurch into a new chapter. Instead, Mogwai retreat to their discomfort zone”: The Bad Fire is reassuringly blurry
- “Communal spaces for the strange:…every diversion is explored – ideas and genres ebb and flow, occasionally careering out of control”: Matt Berry’s Heard Noises adheres to his oblique vision
No more so than on Aunty Mabel, which bursts into life at Wire-like drill-rock pace, then slows into a rumination on old age. Joyful and sombre, playful and solemn, the album culminates in Needles, presumably a tribute to Milligan’s mother.
A beautiful album.
