Kansas City-based project Angie Fights Crime unveils a memorable rock sound across their new full-length album, To Be Beautiful. Written and recorded at CAVE Studios with producer Robert Rebeck, the project — led by prolific artist Brent Kinder — features a collaborative vocal cast including Ash Reynolds, Tess Savigear, Bethan Mathis, and Nikki Goodson. The release also stands out for its unique recording process, where the music was finalized months before the vocals were tracked, resulting in a fresh perspective that spans from hard-rocking ferocity to shoegaze-y, serene illumination.
The album opens with an atmospheric introduction, with moody guitar jangling and bell-chiming conjuring a lovably cinematic eeriness. The next two tracks are melodically gripping, and also evident of the act’s dynamic range. “All My Breath” invigorates with chugging guitar ferocity and debonair vocal intrigue, swelling with anthemic ardor to the “hang on while the wave crashes over me” perseverant call. Shades of A Perfect Circle are evident, enjoyably, in the darkly impactful rock fervor.
The ensuing “Believe It Ever Was” channels a dreamier atmospheric allure, melding shoegaze-y guitars and spacey synths into a lushly reverbed vocal immersion. Between the fierce rock spirit of “All My Breath” and the synth/shoegaze-y illumination of “Believe It Ever Was,” the album starts on exceptionally strong footing, and never quite lets up. Its riveting title track, “To Be Beautiful” also excels in the starry-eyed, dreamy realm. The gorgeous vocal layers of Tess Savigear and Bethan Mathis coexist with emotive piano and jangly guitars, for a standout album ballad.
Elsewhere, tracks like the hypnotic, grunge-touched “Between the Mountain and the Sea” and hard-rocking “War We Cannot Win” continue to display a tonally eclectic, consistently emotive enthrallment. To Be Beautiful is an excellent, rock-forward full-length from Angie Fights Crime.
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“All My Breath” and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.
We discovered this release via MusoSoup.
