Simple Kid - 2

by Ollie McCormack

From start to finish you're treated to Simple Kid's distinctive combination of music

" Even after the brilliance of his debut album ‘1’, the hype machine seems to have passed him and his follow up to ‘1’, the inventively titled ‘2’, by"

With Sam Duckworth, aka Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, rapidly becoming the poster-boy of the latest generation of kids wanting to hear music with more than a pretty frontman and bad tattoos, it could have been quite easy to have forgotten all about Simple Kid. Even after the brilliance of his debut album ‘1’, the hype machine seems to have passed him and his follow up to ‘1’, the inventively titled ‘2’, by. Thankfully he certainly hasn’t forgotten, and has remembered to come back with a brilliant album.

In true Simple Kid style, ‘2’ was a labour of love rather than a pursuit of studio wizardry and spending three months trying to get that perfect take. Largely written and recorded at his home on an old cassette 8-track recorder, many of the tracks that appear on the album were taken straight from these home recordings without ever being touched in the studio. Those that did get re-touched in the studio were only subject to, in his own words, “being messed with, adding guitars and drum loops , sped up, slow down, whatever we wanted to do with them”.

Comprising of 10 tracks, ‘2’ opens in a barrage of slide guitars and ukuleles; ‘Lil King Kong’ is the perfect scene-setter for what is to come. From start to finish, you're treated to Simple Kid's distinctive combination of music straight out of the American mid-west, and lyrics surely the result of a life enhanced by more than just alcohol.

‘Self-Help Guide’ is ‘2’s’ ‘Average Man’, lyrically observing the some of life’s simplest observations; “If you throw a boomerang / It's gonna come back / If you eat too many pies / You're gonna get fat”, while ‘Old Domestic Cat’ documents the highs and lows of living the feline life; “Just gonna potter and walk around the flat / Like an old domestic cat”.

These almost childlike lyrics are a large part of Simple Kid's uncomplicated charm. Always paired with a musical background filled with invention and thought, it is the distinctiveness of the lyrics and music on offer here that sees ‘2’ not as the difficult second album from another white boy with an acoustic guitar but instead is a magnificent second offering from a true underground hero. One that you can bet your bottom dollar on will still be around when Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, and his inevitable wave of impressionists, are back living at home with mummy and daddy.

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