King Never: Orphans, Misfits & Fragments

Review by Joe Mobius (August 2004)

Anyone familiar with King Never's previous release, Ambient Guitar Noise: Volume 1, knows that guitarist Matt McCabe can coax some interesting sounds from his guitar. But what you don't know is that McCabe writes some rockin' progressive modern rock pop songs with a slight experimental edge. Now that's a mouthful!

Although Orphans, Misfit & Fragments (OMF) is slated for an official release later this month, McCabe was kind enough to burn me a pre-production copy of the CD for review.

OMF is an eclectic collection of songs, ranging from instrumental tracks such as the mournful ambient soundscape of "Unknown" to the jazzy alt-prog rock of "Desperate." Vocal duties, handled by wife Kristy and Able Cain alumnus Greg Asher, range from the simple modern rock pop of "Upside Down Girl" to the driving new wave rock of "Fragments."

Instrumentation for the bulk of the album consists of guitar, bass and drums - although you wouldn't know it. McCabe weaves traditional distorted and clean guitar tones with washes of ambient guitar loops and filtered textures to create a truly unique sound and vibe. Ping guitarist Jeff Elbel shares the guitar duties on a handful of tracks, adding melodic and textural counterpoint to McCabe's guitar work.

King Never's Orphans, Misfit & Fragments should find a happy home in CD players of fans interested in forward thinking, creative modern rock.

- Joe Mobius