Solarium [LP] Nicekicks Online

Ciao Kennedy – Solarium [LP]

Born from a childhood friendship, the five members of Ciao Kennedy have crafted their own sound and feeling after exploring a variety of different musical horizons. Following the release of EPs Keldercave (2021) and the problem is (2022), as well as being featured on the compilation Lefto presents Jazz Cats Vol. 3 in the spring of 2024, it was only a matter of time for the Brussels-based band to reappear on the music circuit. As part of the Magma collective, alongside groups like TUKAN and ECHT!, they started to stand out with their instrumental music merging the playfulness of jazz, the repetitive facets of post-rock, and the overtly grand electronic sound evident in what is nowadays described through the grapevine as the ”Brussels sound.” With Solarium, their debut album set to be released under the Sdban Ultra label, they have found a course and common denominator in guitars drenched with post-rock effects, steered by hypnotic electronic beats, creating an atmosphere of rare, dense melancholy, peppered with a sound that belongs in a blockbuster sci-fi movie. Ciao Kennedy and its debut album are a tangy candy bursting in your mouth, the thrill of an afternoon at the fair, modernity meeting up with the nostalgia of childhood. Or standing beneath the shimmering neon lights of a rainy night, like colorful poetry, blending tenderness with electric intensity. Many of these musical descriptions would be completely off the mark, but after a few listens, they don’t seem to miss the mark either. There’s something for everyone to discover on this album, oscillating between the familiar and the unexpected, melancholy and cheer, and while everyone keeps on talking about something being a ”vibe,” listeners can only conclude that Ciao Kennedy is the only one putting this into action. A1. NSLS A2. Annexe A3. Nothing A4. 3Stuk A5. Foire du Midi B1. Limbo Rainbow B2. Flub B3. Sloot B4. Hush Hush