Review: Clean Cut Kid – Felt (Deluxe Edition)

Clean Cut Kid have been on everyone’s radar in Liverpool and around the rest of the UK for that matter for a long time and at long last, their debut album, Felt is finally with us.

Clean Cut Kid have been one of those bands that everyone in Liverpool adores and raves about to anyone from outside of Merseyside and in time, the rest of the country took notice. And instead of rushing to get an album out to meet demand from fans, Clean Cut Kid took their time and made sure it was done right. The end product saw them release their debut record, Felt yesterday.

Felt storms out of the blocks with the upbeat and feel-good track ‘Vitamin C‘ and carries on with ‘Runaway‘ and ‘Leaving you Behind‘. With quirky guitars and good harmonies, it’s a solid opening to the record. From there on the album takes a turn in direction, what started out like could be an upbeat album from start to end, starts to go in a darker path with it’s theme.

A lot of songs seem to be about separation and sense of loss but the way the tracks are arranged, you wouldn’t care because despite a sad theme to the collection of songs, they still have a fun vibe to them.

Although there are moments in these emotional songs where the sadness defines the track and is a stunning piece of music. A prime example of this is around the midway point of the record, ‘Brother of Mine‘. A beautiful and harrowing song with such a stunning chorus accompanied by mesmerising effects and a gut-punching beat. It amounts to a powerful instrumental and to sum this song up in one word, stunning would be the perfect word for ‘Brother of Mine‘. This is probably Clean Cut Kid at their best out of all the new songs we hadn’t heard before the album’s release.

Their songs are embroidered with lots of layers and unconventional guitars, they break the traditional sense of how indie, pop-rock is performed and it makes them stand out in a genre that’s very difficult to do so in this day and age. The whole album has a feel of summer about it, where you take an immediate liking to it and can dance around and be as happy as you’re meant to be during the likes of ‘Jean‘, ‘Strangers‘ and ‘Pick Me Up‘. Then also listen to it in a reflective mood when ‘In Your Eyes‘ or ‘Paper Heart‘ come on and tug at your heartstrings.

It’s been a long time coming and there was a lot of expectation on Clean Cut Kid to deliver with their debut LP and they haven’t disappointed. Felt has only proven as to why they’ve been championed as one of Liverpool’s finest homegrown acts.

Songs worth putting on repeat: ‘Vitamin C‘, ‘Leaving You Behind‘, ‘Brother of Mine‘, ‘Pick Me Up‘ and ‘In Your Eyes‘.

Verdict: 7/10

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