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Khonnor, "Handwriting"
Youth and painfully melodramatic vocals don't spell out "genius" in big, bold letters. While much of the music that this 17 year-old old writes sounds nice (in terms of production), many of his songs are covered in a too-sweet glow that renders all the glorious fuzz and inherent beauty of his guitar work null. Connor Kirby-Long makes music full of good ideas: at times his arrangements hint at a desire to push his own songwriting abilities forward, but all too often this results in a stifling inertia where nothing goes anywhere. There's huge washes of electronic buzz permeating every corner of every song, but this isn't enough to carry the record all by itself.
When Khonnor does decide to lay off all the hiss, his guitars sound plain and relatively flat. "Crapstone" highlights this problem; the keyboards sound like they're being forced out of an old toy that Khonnor must've gotten when he was six and the guitar that is strolling along over it sounds like the work of a disinterested street musician floundering about lazily on his guitar whenever an attractive lady walks by. Other songs show promise, but never reach any kind of satisfying climax. It's Khonnor's age that really shines through this record, not his purported infinite talent. "Kill 2" skips along with an innocent cadence and might sound just fine if it weren't for the dramatic melodies that echo between the keyboards and heavily processed computer-melodies. When he sings it comes out as though he's whispering to someone whom he's in love with, but instead of being sure of himself he tilts back and forth and emphasizes all the wrong aspects of what he has to say. There are a couple of songs ("A Little Secret" comes immediately to mind) where his voice doesn't interrupt anything and all the instruments work very well together. The result are interesting but not enthralling strands of sound. I'm sure there are lots of teenagers in basements across the world that are making lots of music; there's nothing unique or especially outstanding about this one except that he's very obviously ambitious. I can't recommend the CD, however, because there's just not enough material in here to make me want to listen to the record over and over again. Perhaps time and experience will lend Khonnor the songwriting ability he needs to compliment his energetic ideas, but until then his music is all decoration and no substance.
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