Review: “Kevleb” by Kevleb

When approaching something labeled as “experimental,” one can easily fall victim to expectation.  The term can conjure up notions of wide, airy, ambient soundscapes with melting guitar riffs and the feel of a bunch of undergrads trying to crack some neo-tonal veil of reality. Nearly all of this is missing from “Kevleb” by Kevleb. In their place is a glorified demo tape.

“Kevleb” is a collection of interesting ideas mixed with relatively standard ’90s alt-rock sensibilities. Very little experimentation seemed to take place in crafting this album. A notable example of this is the track “Gloire.” Though it’s a song I’d never heard before I began this review, it plays like a song I’ve heard 1,000 times since my youth. And not in that warm, soothing nostalgic way — more in that “ What commercial was this song used in?” way. 

The whole album has the undeniable production values of a solo project, albeit a very well-intentioned one. Most of the tracks sound like they should have been bounced off a second bandmate or a sound engineer who isn’t so close to the project as to become deaf through pride. The vocals are a bit too upfront compared to the rest of the mix and have amateurish-sounding moments that surely would have been cleaned up if another ear had a pass at it. It has the feel of someone proofreading their own work: You miss things or convince yourself everyone else will miss them. 

That’s not to say this album is a total loss. There were some spots where I was very impressed with the soundscape being crafted, and the album’s final track, “Travailler,” is truly approaching indie-rock perfection. That being said, while I commend anyone able to live and work with multiple languages in their brains, I found the choice to switch between English and French jarring. However, though the vocals aren’t particularly enjoyable, the tracks in French — specifically “Je Remercie (y’all)” — were far more palatable.

Final verdict: Check it out, if you’re bored and looking for something well removed from the norm.  There is some value in this listen. However, I’m more interested in what could be done with this album if it were treated as a demo to be expanded upon with a full band and professionally mixed. In its current state, it’s still worth a once over but not much more.