Kid Nobody's "Watch The World As It's Ending" - dramatic and sadly, beautifully hypnotic

AP Track Review

With a song title as provocative and poetic as Watch The World As It's Ending you already are poised to experience something entrancing and Kid Nobody, Michael Wilson and Jesse Carmichael (founding members of Wildcat! Wildcat!) do not disappoint. Not at all. The pair discard safe big synth sounds for something more dangerous. Everything on this soundscape has a level of distortion including the vocals giving the production an ominous otherworldly tone or our world pitched sideways. Yet, it is beautiful in it's chaotic haze. There are ambient noises like hard plastic tree leaves blowing by, skating along a smooth surface. The drum beats have such a plodding snap like a slow walk to the death chamber. When the music breaks and you hear a Wilson's beautifully effected vocal melody, "watch the world as it's ending... watch the world as it's sinking" feels like someone reaching the surface just in time after swimming in deep depths of despair. It sounds so beautiful and sad. It feels so relevant today. 

Watch The World As It's Ending is so lushly engaging. Kid Nobody are universe builders with deep emotional planets in elliptical orbits. On the site Pop Matters, world builder Jesse Carmichael had this to offer about the song:

 "Have you ever been in love to the point where you wouldn't even be bothered by the world ending? This song is about that. 'Come a little closer, kiss, and watch the world that is ending." Finding enough love in the world that you're not bothered by the hopelessness of it. There is certainly some social/political/environmental commentary to be found, but ultimately, it's about finding love while everything around you is falling apart."

Watch The World As It's Ending is ultimately a dramatic and sadly beautiful hypnotic mindfuck. I love this song.

New EP due out early next year.  -
Robb Donker




THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:

Bandmates Michael Wilson and Jesse Carmichael have sustained a long history of creating genre-bending music, most notably joining forces as founding members of Wildcat! Wildcat! (Neon Gold Records, Downtown Records) and scoring the feature film Fallen Stars (Gravitas Ventures). Years after they parted ways, the pair reconnected during a chance encounter in Iceland and quickly realized there was more music to be made.

With a sharpened point of view and a hard drive full of ideas, Kid Nobody hit the ground running in late 2019, releasing a string of singles to be followed by their debut collection of songs, discretion. Leaning heavily into the lush musical landscape of their Southern California home, Kid Nobody crafts ambient yet driven tracks that swell and unspool with dynamic hypnotism, sweeping pageantry, and syrupy bounce.

Wilson’s elusive vocals and sincere arrangements come to life atop the scaffolding of Carmichael’s meticulous beats and sophisticated production. Together they push the boundaries of bedroom pop in their home studios, creating songs that evoke the existential tension of Sigur Rós, late-night swagger of James Blake, and stark complexity of Bon Iver.

Emerging as the natural outgrowth of their previous endeavors, discretion explores an aesthetic that is neither happy nor sad, chill or upbeat, but finds its place in the unique conversation between indulgence and restraint. As the duo wanders through new territory with their debut release (see the hazy 23-minute instrumental dream soundtrack that closes it out) they’re sure to leave listeners thinking twice about who or what Kid Nobody really is.