Chicago Rock: Kid, You’ll Move Mountains

February 15th, 2010 by Oswald Hobbes / Comment on this post

Kid, You’ll Move Mountains do a few things really well: Their songwriting is top-notch, featuring delicate harmonies offset by dissonance; the band features two excellent singers doing the male/female interplay without being cloying or cutesy; and the guitars explode into slashing, rhythmic fury at exactly the right points. The members’ experience in various other bands (Troubled Hubble, Inspector Owl, El Oso) has paved the way for their impossibly tight and dynamic full-length debut, Loomings.

Live @ Lincoln Hall (Feb. 5)

For a band still technically in their infancy, KYMM display remarkable skill and variety; you get the feeling these guys could do anything. My personal favorite is “Inside Voice,” which begins with bright piano and then gets jagged and mean on the verse before building into a delightfully chiming chorus. Guitarist/vocalist Jim Hanke plays it aggrieved and agitated while Nina Lanthrum counters with sweet melodies. They mix it up and get all post-rock on “Make It Sing,” releasing tension throughout while remaining tightly-coiled. KYMM regularly create the kind of delicious suspense with their instrumental interplay that used to be standard in emo and indie circles but has lately given way to easier, looser arrangements; this is a welcome return to a style of music that I dearly missed.

Kid, You’ll Move Mountains are somewhat of a throwback in that sense; they wouldn’t seem out of place on the mid-90′s Jade Tree roster. But they have more than enough chops and personality to distinguish themselves. They are also, according to my esteemed colleague Third World Timmy, an amazing live act, and I hope to catch them soon. But for now, I’ll content myself with playing Loomings in my office at full blast, lost in the gauzy, entrancing world these guys create from the most standard and familiar of rock elements. Kid, You’ll Move Mountains are my new favorite alchemists.