Imagine perusing the “K” section of the local last-standing record store or browsing your favorite indie music web site and coming upon a band called Kissing Party. Despite having no prior knowledge of their sound, on name alone you can infer that Kissing Party must be: A) An exhaustingly twee band who sound like a pillow fight; B) A bit more ragtag yet still twee-favoring indie-pop band; C) Something completely unexpected, like a raunchy hip-hop outfit or a Scandinavian death metal sextet.
Of these choices, letter B most closely describes the sound of Kissing Party’s third release, The Hate Album. Although on songs such as “The Homecoming”, singer Deidre Sage’s vocals sometimes veer too closely to “boo hoo someone stole my lolly” twee territory, proceedings mostly unfold in a disheveled, My Bloody Valentine-indebted way. When guitarist Gregory Dolan takes the mic, songs like “Donna Joy” and “King Graves Road” reveal themselves as downright blissful. File under “cute”, but make sure that “c” is lower-case.