How the mighty have fallen (2012)
Release date: October 23rd 2012
Catalog number: CPR012
Format: CD album, jewel case.
Running time: 77:16
01. Xenia, Ohio
02. Sleeping on the railroad
03. Fangs
04. Fugu
05. Black nectar
06. Let it rot
07. Amethyst
08. Meat ain’t murder
09. Three girls
10. Le temps detruit tout
The Kiss That Took A Trip unashamedly blooms in this debut album, its first fully professional release, and pulls an array of new tricks with an eagerness and hunger that will strike its audience more and more as the record progresses. Basing its sound in long-winded ambient/jazzy suites, "How the mighty have fallen" unwinds with no sense of urgency, but squeezing every minute with signature changes, breakdowns, drone sections, distortion and hummed vocals, all in order to take the listener on a 77 minute trip but making it feel much shorter.
The album wears its confidence on its sleeve by opening with "Xenia, Ohio", a dusty and desolate epic which builds at a slow pace while tentative distorted bass pushes the song forward, only to end in an out of the blue vocal climax. The songs refuse to stick to rigid structures, opting for the use of sections that bleed into others, and a taste for the progressive, as in the highly experimental "Sleeping on the railroad". The towering "Black nectar" serves as the centerpiece of the album, mixing funky breaks, meditative post-rock and combative noise, and going over the 10 minute mark with no feel of overstretching.
"Let it rot" and "Meat ain't murder" may be the most surprising moments, the first with its opening big-band/jazz melodies, and the former because of its straight-faced danceable synth-pop, vocal chorus included. The rest of the songs keep the dark, soft and natural sound pretty much alive until the almost nihilistic finale of "Le temps detruit tout", in which the album stops breathing after more than an hour of beautiful despair.
All in all, and regardless of personal tastes, an impossible to ignore album.
"How the mighty have fallen" includes the song "Fangs", for which a video and a maxi-single were released in July/August 2012.