Staff Reviews

Kindness - Otherness

Review by Matthew Slaughter

There are moments here to make the listener believe that staying the course with Kindness might be worth it in the long term.»

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'Otherness' is the anticipated follow up to Kindness' impressive 2012 debut, 'World, You Need a Change of Mind'. The new release delivers on the promise many have seen in Bainbridge since World, which was one of the years best albums. 'Otherness' possesses, to an even greater degree than World, what the BBC attributed to its predecessor: "a humanity that sets [the music] apart from the brittle pristineness of modern pop" and "a sense of genuine invention that permeates the whole album." For 'Otherness', Kindness' Adam Bainbridge surrounded himself with fellow artists, co-writing and / or recording in cities around the world, including Robyn, who discovered Kindness via his first album; Kelela, whom he met through his close friends at Night Slugs; Ghanaian rapper M.anifest; and Devonte Hynes, a longtime friend whose 2013 breakthrough Cupid Deluxe included contributions from Bainbridge. Throughout 'Otherness', Kindness also drawing upon an immense range of music - D'Angelo, Herbie Hancock, Prince, Sade, Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth, Kate Bush and Ryuichi Sakamoto- to craft a seamlessly coherent set of songs that are at once raw and modern.
'Otherness' is the fullest realization to date of an artistic vision that Bainbridge was already beginning to articulate when he first assumed the Kindness moniker and began releasing recordings, in 2007, at the Philadelphia Institute for Advanced Study, where he was granted a residency to explore music-making.
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