Something Like a War

by Kindness

Overview

Avowing their DJ-minded methodology, Adam Bainbridge starts the third Kindness LP with an excerpt from Underground Resistance's homiletic "Transition": "There will be people who will say, 'You don't mix this with that,' and you will say, 'Watch me.'" Bainbridge uses the guidance of UR's Cornelius Harris to indicate that they are back on their grind, fortified by the intermediary work on recordings by Solange and Kindness affiliates Blood Orange and Robyn. The words indeed seem to have guided most aspects of Something Like a War. Assembled from tricontinental sessions in over 20 private and commercial studios, its polyglot art-pop integrates slick funk and Afro-beat, house and new jack swing, and dub and garage, inclusive of other flavors. Its cast is typically Kindness in makeup but Quincy Jones-like in scale. There are nearly 20 voices, well-utilized string and horn sections, and enough instrumentalists to form a few bands with standard lineups. Producer and principal writer Bainbridge programs the drums, plays some of the instruments, arranges, and applies guileful Todd Rundgren and Playa samples. After a unifying, spirit-lifting house warm-up that almost sounds live enough to have been recorded at a small loft party, Something Like a War gets down to private business. Vulnerability, patience, action, and uninhibited expression are all upheld as imperatives for intimacy. Seinabo Sey, propelled by a springy Rashaan Carter bassline, instructs with sweetness to "Give it up, don't be afraid to fall," a sentiment reinforced with the heady next track through Bainbridge's consoling baritone, accentuated in the background with Robyn and falsetto house legend Byron Stingily. They lead the way and build up to powerhouse Jazmine Sullivan, who on the pulsing and swirling "Hard to Believe" is at her most urgent and commanding since "Don't Make Me Wait." When love falls apart -- the last five songs, all convalescent in some form, sift through the wreckage -- openness is advanced as no less necessary. The quality slips only on a ballad that approximates a late-'80s demo by Smith & Mighty or Massive Attack, lifting again with another Robyn showcase (the storming "Cry Everything") and an emotionally lacerated Cosima ballad pitched somewhere between Maze's "Joy and Pain" and This Mortal Coil ("No New Lies"). "Something Like a War" in no manner references the like-titled documentary about the sterilization of women in India, but rapper Bahamadia -- along with Sullivan, one of only two vocalists to break from the album's tenderness -- swings at another form of oppression. She lands a direct hit just before Bainbridge, Cosima, and Nadia Nair exchange verses on a trembling finale urging against self-concealment. ~ Andy Kellman

Product Details

Release Date:	09/06/2019
Label:	FEMALE ENERGY
UPC:	0656605345659

Tracks

1. Sibambaneni
2. Raise Up
3. Lost Without
4. Softness as a Weapon
5. Hard to Believe
6. Who You Give Your Heart To
7. Samthing's Interlude
8. Dreams Fall
9. The Warning
10. Cry Everything
11. No New Lies
12. Something Like a War
13. Call It Down

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Kindness   Primary Artist
Adam Bainbridge   Synthesizer,Vocals (Background),Bass,Piano,Guitar,Vocals
Sampha Sisay   Synthesizer,Vocals (Background)
Nadia Nair   Vocals
Samthing Soweto   Vocals
Seinabo Sey   Vocals
Braxton Cook   Guitar,Saxophone
Fabiana Palladino   Vocals (Background)
Ryan Ashley   Vocals (Background)
Amanda Khiri   Vocals (Background)
Pauli The PSM   Drums
Alexandria   Vocals,Vocals (Background)
Harriet Brown   Guitar
Mathis Picard   Organ,Piano,Wurlitzer,Synthesizer,Synthesizer Bass
Akua   Vocals (Background)
Kyla Moscovitch   Trumpet
Natasha Nathanielsz   Harp
Jason Arce   Saxophone
Rashaan Carter   Bass
Gabriel Cabezas   Cello
Evan Sutton   Guitar
Mustafa Ahmed   Percussion
Shawn Conley   Double Bass
August Rosenbaum   Piano
Akua Carson   Vocals (Background)
Cosima   Vocals
Jeffery Miller   Trombone
Bryndon Cook   Guitar,Vocals,Strings,Vocals (Background)
Vuyo Sotashe   Vocals,Strings
Bahamadia   Vocals
Jazmine Sullivan   Vocals
Rob Moose   Viola,Violin
Byron Stingily   Vocals (Background)
Daniel Aged   Bass
Hanna Benn   Synthesizer,Choir/Chorus
Robin Carlsson   Vocals,Vocals (Background)

Technical Credits

Adam Bainbridge   Programming,Drum Programming,String Arrangements,Composer,Engineer,Producer
Sampha Sisay   Composer
Nadia Nair   Composer
Samkelo Lelethu Mdolomba   Composer
Alexandria   Composer
Harriet Brown   Composer
Mathis Picard   Composer
Nadia Johansson   Composer
Stephen Garrett   Composer
Isha Dipika   Artwork
Benjamin Thomas   Engineer
Michelle Yong   Photography
Parks Vincent   Management
Chris Hills   Engineer
Philippe Zdar   Mixing
Evan Sutton   Engineer
Scott Stallone   Engineer
Joe Gallagher   Engineer
Antoine Poyeton   Mixing Assistant
Cosima   Composer
Cosima Ehni   Composer
Vuyo Sotashe   Composer
Will Boston   Composer
Mike Marsh   Mastering
Lonnie Simmons   Composer
Jazmine Sullivan   Composer
Rob Moose   String Arrangements
Timothy Mosley   Composer
Sylvester Stewart   Composer
Jonah Ellis   Composer
Todd Rundgren   Composer
Brett Shaw   Engineer
Charles Buie   Composer
Alisa Peoples   Composer
Chris Tabron   Engineer
Daniel Aged   Composer,Producer,Programming
Antonia Reed   Composer
Kelela Mizanekristos   Composer
Benjamin Bush   Composer
Hanna Benn   Composer,Choir Arrangement
Robin Carlsson   Composer