Kenneth Roy - 2020 - Chairman

(39:34; Physico Records)

Track list:
1. Chairman 3:32
2. Two of a Kind 3:33
3. Let Your Love Come Down 3:19
4. In the Night 5:10
5. Think I'll Stay in the City Tonight 5:06
6. After Dawn 3:46
7. Empty Heart 3:41
8. I Still Love You So 3:21
9. Our Love Will Last 3:54
10. Close Enough to Know 4:12

Line-up:
Kenneth Roy - vocals, drums, percussion, keyboards, synthesizers, melodica, effects
Doctor Ryman - guitars, drums, bass, arrangements, effects
with:
Baron Chase - bass
Richard Howell - saxophones, arrangements
Geechi Taylor - trumpet
Danny Armstrong - trombone


Veteran US artist Kenneth Roy has been around for the last three decades or thereabouts, but as I haven't been able to trace just how many albums he has released over the years I don't know how productive he has been over the years. The album "Chairman" dates back to 2020, and appears to be the most recent of his excursions as a solo artist.

I was fairly impressed with this album when I gave it a more superficial inspection earlier this year, and as the artist was kind enough to send me physical versions of this album too, I thought it would be prudent to give this production a bit more of a detailed run down too.

The most striking aspect of this album is the mix and production. The songs here comes across as carefully assembled constructions where a lot of work has gone into the mix and production process, with a very good job done at the mastering level too. The songs come across as extremely well polished affairs, and polished in the right manner too: All the details are readily available, the balance is just right, and there aren't any disruptive edges to be found here. For better or for worse I guess, depending on personal taste in music, as some people enjoy encountering unexpected disruptive details while others will prefer their music of choice to be experiences of smooth sailing in calm waters. But for the kind of music explored on this album, the smooth and elegant approach explored here fits the landscapes explored to perfection.

It probably won't be music of a surprise that the songs here come with a lot of pop music sensibility, with many of them coming across as tailor made for use on FM radio and the majority of them should be of general interest to those with an interest in well made pop music of the old school variety. That is pop music that has been composed and executed without an aim to come across as being a part of any contemporary tradition. The kind of pop music that was popular until the middle of the 1980's or thereabouts, and the kind of pop music that wasn't afraid of being expressive.

With that notion in mind, the songs we get here tend to be inclusive in spirit, and in slight defiance of genre boundaries throughout. A little bit of funk or jazz is a part of many of the songs here, with a touch of jazzrock also applied on occasion. Just about as important is the inclusion of a little bit of soul here and there, with blues, folk and Americana also being present with some detail or another in quite a few songs. With most of the songs containing at least two such more distinct genre seasonings, and with the majority of the compositions exploring these tendencies inside a context with a distinct pop music sensibility in terms of general orientation. At times executed with perhaps a bit more nondescript manner, while on other occasions Roy does dabble in a bit of progressive rock too, or perhaps art pop might be a more viable description for those latter tendencies. An artist like Peter Gabriel did come to mind on a few occasions here, to put it that way.

From my perspective it is the pop music sensibility that is the most defining feature of this production as far as genre and orientation is concerned, and what I perceive to be more of an old school approach being the most defining aspect of that tradition again. Those with a general interest in pop music that has been composed in more of an old school manner will probably be the primary audience for this album, and especially those among them that knows to appreciate a more sophisticated and inclusive approach and execution applied to material that fits within such a tradition and description.

Olav M. Björnsen, November 2023

Links:
http://www.kennethroymusic.com/