Last week, following the release of his second full-length album, we brought you an interview with Noah Kittinger, aka Bedroom. Today we once again come bearing gifts, this time in the form of our thoughts on Grow, which I can attest is the perfect album to accompany a lazy day in the summer sun.
Grow starts with ‘Being Hunted’, a song that begins with sweetly innocent finger picked acoustic before searing electric guitar develops it into a typically atmospheric opening track. It certainly hints at the how Noah’s ramped up his production efforts.
It’s during the album’s title track that you start to discover some of the dominating themes surrounding Grow. Noah gets to grip with some of the prevalent issues that occur as a young person growing up, a fear of unavoidable change. ‘Everything keeps changing, for the worst,” he laments, wearing his worried heart on his sleeve.
‘Nothing Lasts’ follows on with the album’s acoustic nature with Smiths-like strumming injecting some pace and vigour into proceedings, whereas ‘Moving Forward’ is propped up by a crunching beat that sounds like it’d be more at home on an ambient electronic song. Grow has matured not only in terms of Noah’s character and personality, but also in the way of production, and ‘Moving Forward’ is testament to this. It has the lo-fi appeal of someone who works in their bedroom but Noah now knows that the limitations of working in this way are being unscrewed.
The folky ‘We All Need Something’ maintains the steady beat that exists in nearly all of Bedroom’s tracks, and contains vocals from Jade Lawhon, whom Noah met on the Internet. ‘I can’t stop shaking, my body’s aching’ bemoans Noah, who we hope isn’t going through the crippling affects of heroin withdrawal.
‘Hurry Up, Get Up’ at times borrows drawn out Eastern guitar sounds and with its clapping drumbeat sounds almost sinister. ‘Drift Away’, a song that Noah confessed is a particular favorite and once again features Jade Lawhon, is arguably the most emotional track on the album, with Noah and Jade harmonising ‘What do I do, now that I hurt you?’ The album might be dreamy and chilled out but there are deeply serious adult issues bubbling under the surface as a battle exists between light and shade.
Treated vocals give the synthy ‘Hide’ an ambient feel with Noah sounding like Beach Fossils’ singer Justin Paysean. The aptly titled ‘End’ wraps up the album with an instrumental, slowly building up before fading away.
Your bedroom is the place that you feel the safest, four walls of solitude away from the frantic nature of the modern world. Not only does Kittinger use this space to create this music, but what he records manages to encapsulate the warm, comforting haven of the room that you spend your most vulnerable of hours in.
Grow signals another milestone in this fledgling musician’s career, a milestone that we’re sure will soon be bettered. Noah does have some important decisions to make though, does he continue producing music in his bedroom or does he branch out? Only he will know, and only he needs to know because for now we can all enjoy the remarkable work from this precocious musician.
