Kissing Party and the indie rock emotional maelstrom of "Graceless" (Official Video)

"throw away the house / throw away the kids / I'm still finding out / remember..."

Elevated by an edgy, evocative Official Video (that begs to be expanded to a full length film directed by Todd Haynes) the emotionally dense "Graceless", the title song from Denver, Colorado's Kissing Party gets under you skin. Not as an inflammation, mind you, but cuddles beneath your psyche in a subversive way. The song's atmosphere with it's runaway beat, the sense of hauling ass down suburban streets striving to get to something (or run away from something) might leave you breathless or hyperventilating.    

About their track "No Advice" from the "Graceless" album also I wrote:

[ Like an Interpol or Joy Division 45 played on 78 but less brooding, the percolating guitars and runaway drumming have a vast desperate sense as if you could run so fast as to not have time catch up and thus be young forever.] 

AND I feel a similar sense here except that "Graceless" is deeply brooding and maybe even deeply sad. I have written, oftentimes, that songs are sonic Rorschach tests so the black ink that Kissing Party splatters on white walls will surely have you seeing / feeling something else than what I see / feel but what I am sensing, plainly, is childhood or teenage trauma that has to be dealt with. Watching those who could have been mentors but were, instead, tormentors as a living breathing commercial for birth control. Spending nights on lawn furniture because it is better than going inside. Realize that facts can be fiction or vice versa, that poetic license is the lead in the pencil.  

I love the sonics on the song "Graceless" that might feel like a crushing, flailing collision of artists like early The Drums, early Surf Curse, primarily but tangentially artists like The Simps and Black Kids. There is inherent in Kissing Party a feeling of intense heaviness, the feeling of being a bug under a microscope. 

Kissing Party says this about the album "Graceless":

[The album is interwoven with themes of escape, loss, longing, heartache, heartbreak, and occasionally…happiness.] 

AND

[Ahead of the release, today Kissing Party shared a final look into the album with title track, "Graceless." The fuzzed-out rocker builds on layers of dreamy guitars as lyrics contemplate past mistakes made.]

I really like what Kissing Party is putting out in the world. The songs are impactful, heavy, sad. I like sad songs, maybe because I have always struggled with feeling things too much. In this world if you feel things too much, if you are empathetic then you are kind of fucked. That being said, I strive to show love, not be downer to those that know me but fragility is never far away. 

FYI:

[Kissing Party is the quintessence of the DIY culture and their effortless aesthetic reflects this. Every aspect of the Kissing Party world – from the music to the artwork, to the videos and t-shirts – is created by the band's main visionary and founder, Gregg Dolan.

I look forward to dipping into the new album "Graceless", out NOW via the band’s own record label, BBYV Records.

-Robb Donker Curtius   

Hello: Anyone enjoying this read and American Pancake, end of year is always a more difficult time in terms of finances. If you can help out by contributing to our Go Fund Me below it would be super appreciated. Cheers Robb

THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM 

https://www.facebook.com/TheKissingParty

https://open.spotify.com/artist/01aT5KBkwchuBXg4cPJnqC

https://www.instagram.com/kissing_party/

https://twitter.com/kissingparty

This is Slop Pop. Meet Kissing Party, your new favorite band whether you like it or not. Every city has those hidden gems that only locals know about, be it a restaurant or bar or a band. In Denver, that band is Kissing Party…for the moment.

Kissing Party is the quintessence of the DIY culture and their effortless aesthetic reflects this. Every aspect of the Kissing Party world – from the music to the artwork, to the videos and t-shirts – is created by the band's main visionary and founder, Gregg Dolan.

Transplants of NY, PA, and OH, Kissing Party makes music like their lives depend on it. Considering the term ‘indie’ to be a useless descriptive term in the 21st century, the pop princess trash artists have dubbed themselves as Slop Pop instead, (a perfectly blended chaos of dream pop, shoegaze & beach goth).

After receiving national attention with critically acclaimed album Mom & Dad (2019), Kissing Party re-released a deluxe edition of their culture classic The Hate Album (2020) and a slew of singles including “Fuck the Future” (2020), “Pig City” (2021), and “Boy with Pipe,” (2022) which garnered airplay from ‘The Mayor of Sunset Strip’ Rodney Bingenheimer’s Sirius XM Underground Garage Show. The band is finally ready to unleash their dirty and dreamy masterpiece Graceless into the wild this fall.

Graceless consists of 10 sleazy pop gems the band describes as “upbeat melancholy.” The songs are instant, intense, & dramatic without a sense of irony but somehow retain a sense of humor that makes you want to drink then dance then drink some more.

"Graceless" dropped on November 17, 2023 via the band’s own record label (BbyV Records) which was founded with the help of a fan funded Kickstarter campaign.





Kissing Party, slop pop, indie rock, alt pop, alternative music, DIY aesthetic, Collaborative project, core member Gregg Dolan, title track, new album "Graceless",