Music
To continue with my earlier post of some of the music of Kent and particularly his band/solo project Roommate. In the earlier post I gave you a run down on his recordings so far and some information on the Celebs track and what inspired it.
Here I’ll delver deeper into some of the tracks and what Kent has said about them and what other critics have said. Going back to Celebs the first track he wrote was Hudson Crocs which was another forray into the surreal mind of Kent. It dealt with film monsters who had faded from the publics concousness to such an extent that the monsters had to settle down in to the mainstream and get real jobs in order to support themselves. A surreal look at the transient nature of celebrity.
The next song he penned was Hindsight is 20/20 which was inspired by the relationship between fans and celebrity after witnessing a piece about Mark Chapman who is infamous for gunning down Lennon.
Perhaps the most widely known track on the EP is about River Phoenix who has interested kent from an early age. But it was a brush with the Phoenix family that truly gave him the material for the track. As Kent explains he saw a Summer Phoenix film as part of his day job and was at the after film party that was attended by the Phoenix clan as well as the excellent Casey Affleck and Michal Stipe. This was Kent’s biggest celebrity scrape thus far and it left him a little shocked. But Kent was particularly interested in the mundane and the ordinary rather than being purely blinded by the celebrity on show. This manifested itself in River Phoenix’s mother who he apparently got his looks from. Kent was struck that she was almost famous because of her off spring and this led her to have contact with many high profile genuine stars. Yet paradoxically she is ordinary/normal, someone we would pass on the street without a seconds thought. It slammed home to him that these stars are just people like you and I, with moms and dads that look just like our parents. This perplexing issue gave him the material for a homage record to River Phoenix but with the normal Kent twist.
The Celebs EP did get critical acclaim and even made some people’s lists of most promising debuts which is a feat considering it had zero promotion and was self released. Kent was called the “genuine talent” and “one of the most promising acts in years” and his voice was called delicate although I would not agree with that personally. I think you can tell the records were made in his apartment and I think that is part of their charm. I find the tracks insightful, entertaining, surreal and ultimately great pop music. Many people believe pop music is a derogatory term that describes disposable transient music, I don’t I believe good pop music stands the test of time but even more importantly entertains it’s audience. Celebs certainly entertained me. I’ll report on further records soon.