Press Release: Kim Gray’s Album ‘Compulsion’ is Out Now on Bad Diet Records
Compulsion finds Kim Gray performing with the focus of a Shaolin Monk. He’s fanned the garage fumes that led his first act, The Skinny Kids, to a cult Canadian following, and ascended with a sound of strength. Kim’s metamorphosis, apparent at Bad Diet on last year’s Perfume, released on L.A.’s Lollipop Records, fully blooms on Compulsion into prismatic bedroom pop.
Recoded on a Tascam 388, the album captures the low budget weirdness of pioneers like R. Stevie Moore and funnels it through a formula worthy of Motown’s hit parade. No “indie” safety glue predictably binds Compulsion; Kim prefers a continuity that resides in pop’s outer limits.
Seemingly possessed by the kindred obsessive forces that drove Joe Meek, the band spent 16-hour days meticulously layering Kim’s initial ideas whilst isolated in a shack behind East Vancouver’s chic psych-pub, The Lido. VHS copies of old Westerns grounded their encampment as they filled in Compulsion’s expansive terrain in effects salvaged from semi-functional equipment lining the walls of the makeshift studio.
Folding vintage radios and toyish Casio soundbanks into live studio-quality compositions might sound like the wet teenage dream of Flying Lotus after too much Tago Mago, but we bet you our Bitcoin reserves that Compulsion holds its weight in dreams. “Peroxide Blondes” glimmers in the midnight mysticism of a Michael McDonald serenade compelled by the spirit of Bobby Fuller; the relaxed vibe of “What’s In a Smile” recalls a rum-induced impromptu beach session between Tom Ze and Kenny Loggins.
Compulsion flows like uninterrupted REM sleep, with Kim Gray confronting his loneliness on a path of modern struggles. If you’re searching for peace inside sex, drugs, memes, eating, money, television or internet dating, let Kim be your guide to happiness.
NOTES
Artwork by Dustyn Peterman
Mastered by Mikey Young (Total Control)
100 Copies available on pearl white vinyl
All first pressings include an obi strip that must be removed to reveal the full album package. The digital version of the artwork is flattened with the obi strip.
