joan of arc

so much staying alive and lovelessness

'Critiquing a Kinsella is a daunting task. It is hard to gauge any project Tim or Mike may be working on without putting it up against the countless other bands that they have been involved in. There is so much history there that is impossible to ignore.

The brothers? roots in the seminal yet underappreciated band Cap?n Jazz could take volumes of writing just to be put in the correct perspective; not to mention the fact that the offshoots of this band are so far widespread that the Kinsella?s musical lineage makes Kevin Bacon look like a cloistered monk.

This Joan of Arc album alone was worked on by a collapsed outline of numerous different side projects.

Yes, writing about indie rock icons the Kinsellas to a general audience is comparable to describe Elvis and his impact on. The mere attempt to encapsulate the whole history is impossible.

So, here is the briefest version necessary to appreciate this album: The Chicago based noise/art rock band Cap?n Jazz was light years ahead of its time. Each member of the group grew so quickly that the interests diversified in such clashing fashions, that it made sense to dissolve the group and pursue other musical ventures. The most popular of the bands birthed from Cap?n Jazz was The Promise Ring. The longest lasting is Joan of Arc.

A few years ago, the members of Cap?n Jazz reformed as The Owls. The Owls were clean cut and more refined. They took the raw talent of their adolescent project and manifested it into something so complex and intricate that, regardless of personal musical tastes, it garnered immense respect from the underground scene.

Joan of Arc is that missing link between the youthful and boisterous Cap?n Jazz and the mature and sophisticated The Owls. Since Joan of Arc is more active, it has surpassed those levels of maturity and sophistication which it only seemed to link before ?So Much Staying Alive??

Like The Owls, the amount of talent, thought, and intricacy that has gone into the song-writing process for JOA can only be respected. Think of the album as Miles Davis?s ?Bitches Brew? or ?Birth of the Cool? may be thought. It may be over your head, but you learn to trust artists like the Kinsellas, as Miles Davis. They know what they are doing, long before anyone else gets it.