Kenny and Beth's Musakal Boat Rides

AMG Review of Kenny and Beth's Musakal Boat Rides

MacKenzie Wilson
All Music Guide

Singer/songwriter King Creosote is inspired by his Scottish roots and preserves his beloved upbringing in the North Sea town of Fife through music. A storyteller in song and a poet at heart, King Creosote's previous work with the Skuobhie Dubh Orchestra and Khartoum Heroes was magic for a while, but the desire to express his eccentric creativity didn't come together until he went solo. Kenny and Beth's Musakal Boat Rides marks King Creosote's official debut, introducing his usual quirky charm. It's polished pop rooted in raditional folk while threads of luegrass echo throughout King Creosote's fairytale-like set of 13 songs. Kenny and Beth's Musakal Boat Rides is a marvelous journey of rich melodies and is keenly connected to his brother, the Lone Pigeon's Gordon Anderson's warm harmonies. From the rainy-day mood of "Pulling Up Creels" and the countrified vaudeville of "So Forlorn" to playfully snarking at Julie Andrews and Vincent van Gogh on "Turps," King Creosote creates wild soundscapes that are far more imaginative that any of his Scottish counterparts (Travis, Belle & Sebastian, Ballboy). Vocalist James Yorkston and fingerpicker Pip Dylan lend a hand on "Lavender Moon" for one of the album's more intimate moments. Kenny and Beth's Musakal Boat Rides is an album with many layers, and the overall production is tweaked just so, leading itself to be a full, pleasurable listen. In way, it's classical music for the new-millennium pop enthusiast.