The Daily Spin, July 23
Gregory and the Hawk | Moenie and Kitchi
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite song from each album right here.
Album: Moenie and Kitchi (2008)
Artist: Gregory and the Hawk
Link:
There’s a lot to enjoy about this album - soft indie that sweeps through your head with the gentle sensation of a running river, never too pressing, easy to slap on in the background while you turn your attention to other projects. It knows exactly what it wants to be, and that’s half the battle sometimes.
However, there’s a further step between knowing what an album wants to be and what a record actually is, and it’s in this pitfall that Moenie and Kitchi falls short - through vocals that feel almost childlike, stuck in a pretty limited range that neuters any sort of lasting impact to this music. Much like Liana Flores’ album from last month, I’m left desiring a lot more after about thirty minutes of relatively one-note work, the sort of music that can’t be coaxed into becoming something different and new.
Meredith Godreau chose this moniker to avoid the stereotype given to female singer-songwriters, per her Spotify page, and yet she is, perhaps, the stereotypical female singer-songwriter archetype. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it all feels a little silly to go to such lengths to obfuscate a truth that will appear immediately clear.
So, too, does it feel useless to pretend that this album is much beyond its skeleton - beautiful at moments, but lacking in the qualities that give it life.
Rating: 6.7/10
Best Tracks: Stone Wall Stone Fence
Worst Tracks: Voice Like A Bell