On 'Kairos', we find White Hinterland exploring the edges of minimal pop, accomplishing a delicate but lively seduction through deep, patient bass throbs, prismatic synth textures, and direct, intimate songs sung with an empowered gravitas. Here Casey Dienel tailors the acrobatics of her former songwriting into a slender focus, folding it into deeper grooves. Beneath the baroque arrangements and intellectual lean of Dienel’s previous musical efforts was a sexiness that 'Kairos' exposes, showing the artist for what she is: powerful and comfortable in her own skin, with a glittery voice weaned on pop R&B. With a sound so modern, so contemporary, 'Kairos' fixes White Hinterland’s gaze firmly on the future.
'Kairos' was written after Dienel and band-mate Shawn Creeden relocated to Portland, Oregon from Boston and Brooklyn, respectively. There, without regular access to a piano, the centerpiece of previous White Hinterland recordings, Dienel’s writing process took on an innovative new shape. Soon she and Creeden delved excitedly into a new practice of collaboration centered around live looping, electronic and acoustic percussion, and kaleidoscopic sound, all providing a shimmery underpinning to intricate layers of Dienel’s voice.
Conceived over several months in co-producer Alexis Gideon’s Liophant home studio, this is the first White Hinterland album truly made by a band, not just played by one. Using just one mic, electronics, programming and an arsenal of percussion and instruments, the minimal, washy “Art & B” of Kairos was born. The songs here were first imagined as a series of singles, but they soon took on the cohesive shape of an album jammed with singles from start to finish. Dienel compared making 'Kairos' to swimming in a cave, trusting only the instinct to just keep swimming. This image perfectly embodies the enchanting and blue-lit atmosphere of the album.
Sean Michaels of Said the Gramophone captured it well, after he witnessed a White Hinterland performance where they performed the bulk of 'Kairos' live:
“The jazz has been taken out, simply removed. And what is left is so, so, so much space; so much space in which she and Shawn add dark beats, deep bass, dubstep stuff. And she sings in looped curlicues, ivies and gold rings, sampling and re-sampling. They were all new songs and they were utterly astonishing. Here are some names of things it was & wasn't merely: the dirty projectors, the xx, burial, tune-yards, school of seven bells, the neptunes, thom yorke, arthur russell, giovanni pierluigi da palestrina. Any half-samples so far do it no credit at all. What a rediscovery.”
I can't help but be in awe of the sound Fleet Foxes manage to generate on "Helplessness Blues"; The words grandiose and romantic come to mind in an attempt to describe its sound. However the main appeal, at least for me, is the lyrics. Pecknold manages to tackle so many troubling emotions and wrap them all up with a satisfying conclusion by the end. ethanbollard
A nostalgic record full of ambling rhythms, vivid imagery, and cotton-soft melodies tapped out on an ever-present ’70s synth-organ hybrid. Bandcamp Album of the Day Nov 11, 2021
This Melbourne group craft irresistible bedroom pop with bouncy synths and soft vocals that sweeten serious subject matter. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 5, 2018
This is undoubtedly my single favorite album of all time. It feels like such a perfect culmination of all the themes and ideas Fleet Foxes has been working with since 2008. It answers many of the questions found on both Helplessness Blues and Crack-Up, and represents an incredible maturation and growth in Robin Pecknold's perspective. Their other albums are certainly masterpieces, but this, in my opinion, is their magnum opus. I doubt it will be recognized as such in its time. isaiah_stuart