Hello Readers,
Welcome back. Or welcome if this is your first time at SWT. Have you listened to any good music lately?
Kind Skies is a band out of Lexington, Kentucky. According to their website, the bands’ “Lyrical content explores personal identity, celebrity, the South, and relationships. Our sound embodies the mixture of a warm late-night melody with nervous first-date energy.” At SWT, they are still a bit of a mystery to us as we were recently introduced to them, but we like what we’ve heard from their upcoming album, Echo, which gets a digital and vinyl (snag the vinyl!) release on Friday, August 15th.
I’m not a fan of comparing one band to others; that’s something you should do yourself if you so choose, listener. But when I listen to the new Kind Skies’ album, I think of that glorious ’90s slacker sound, e.g., Pavement, ’80s Camper Van Beethoven, and also ’90s Archers of Loaf.
Christopher Boss (vocals, guitar), Stephen Boss (bass guitar), Austin Adkins (drums), and Mitch (guitar) make up the current lineup for the band. The vinyl may list Mitch’s last name, but we’ll let him remain mysterious here, and you can discover that for yourself if you are curious. Kind Skies’ discography includes Certainly Optimistic (2019), Tower EP (2024), and Long Distance EP (2024), as they’ve made a name for themselves within the Lexington music scene. All of the band’s previous releases can be heard at their Bandcamp page.
Some credits for the Echo album:
- Music by Kind Skies
- Chris – Vocals/Guitar
- Mitch – Guitar
- Austin – Drums
- Stephen – Bass
- With Mark Murray – Keyboards
- Carrie Welsh – Additional words
- Recording, Mix, Master, Photographs, and Design by Mitch
Josh and I love vinyl. From the often creative and sometimes mesmerizing and gorgeous cover jackets, to the inner parts, including but not limited to the inner and outer sleeves, their artwork, lyric sheets, and more. However, we haven’t discussed that enough on SWT. Vinyl hype incoming!
And now for some music from the album! Here’s the video for one of the already released singles, “Charlie Watts,” from Kind Skies’ YouTube channel:
(All credits and rights to Kind Skies)
And another song, “Unrest”
The Echo Tracklist:
- Crooked Teeth
- Enough
- Prothombin Pleasure Screen
- Unrest
- Charlie Watts
- Ollie
Echo is a solid release. I dig it a lot. You can tell the band is proud of this release, and I think they should be. From the quality of the lyrics to the overall melodic composition and instrumentation, it provides a good listening experience. The band proves that they’re arguably the best band in Kentucky that you haven’t heard of but should know. All of the songs on this album will sound great live. Check out the band and see them live. Call us selfish, but we’d love it if they toured so we and others outside of Kentucky could see them at some of the country’s great small and medium-sized venues.
The band is hosting an album listening party on Bandcamp on Wednesday, August 13th, at 7:00 p.m. CST. Check that out right here.
Like what you’ve heard? Listen and find out more here:
Bandcamp: Echo | Kind Skies
Instagram: instagram.com/kindskiesband/
Facebook: facebook.com/kindskieslexington/
YouTube: Kind Skies
Happy listening!
Scummy Water Tower Productions co-founder, reviewer, business manager, and editor. Thank you for visiting this site: scummywatertower.com, and YouTube for Water Tower Sessions!
Contact me: alex@scummywatertower.com
