The brother-sister duo of S.J. and Maygen Kardash that forms Violent Kin have returned to Saskatoon to record and produce from their home studio. People is the second full-length release from Violent Kin, and the result of these recording sessions.
From the beginning of the album, it seems that Violent Kin are trying desperately to remind us of the eighties. Saturated with bouncy pop songs overloaded with synthesizers, People sounds less like a genre and more like a decade. I am dead serious — my father’s eighties mix tapes don’t even sound this ridiculous.
The mixing on the album feels sloppy. The percussion is often lost behind overpowering guitar and synthesizers. The siblings share vocals, but regardless of who is singing it all tends to sound a little out of tune and a little forced. The album is not entirely bad. “Dangerous” is a dark romp through the human psyche. Sadly, this is the high point in a valley of lazy composition.
Those who are excessively fond of synthesizer-laden dance-pop (or people who wish it was still the eighties) might enjoy a few tracks from People, but overall, it is a shaky album from a group that needs to find their own sound.