Inspired by time spent travelling to, and through Vietnam, “Trẻ em” captures a journey of introspection and contemplation; of excitement, contentment and considered observation.
Imbibed with a deep appreciation of the country’s sights and sounds, Kit’s affection for the people and places that unknowingly contributed is tangible in its warmth, richness and character. The breadth and depth of these tracks eases through a wealth of shared experiences, the weight of history and the often brutal reality of the world in which we live. Heart-breaking and heart-warming, perhaps the most wonderful thing about “Trẻ em” is its unerringly honest dichotomy.
An album that effortlessly transports and eases you into the heart of the experience, the tremulous “Girl Walking on the Beach Wearing a Skirt” takes you to an idyll of white sands and picturesque isolation - a place where the sun's kissing the horizon and the breeze whispers through the trees casting black silhouettes against a burning amber sky. It’s a track that evokes and transcends, sighing with the tide, truly content in its beauty and natural simplicity.
“Tunnels” is a dramatically different beast, its minimal heartbeat determined in its power. Alive with nervous tension, it’s an invitation to delve into the darkness, crawling towards the infinite, co-existing with the choke of claustrophobic fear and volatile gunfire as the walls close in on a space of dead air and defiance. But even trapped in a place as foreboding as this, fuelled only by adrenalin and a clamouring sense of freedom, there’s still a flicker of optimism in the unknown.
In album closer, “I Grew Up Here” you have the perfect bookend, a warm, swelling piece tinged with longing and sadness but one that flourishes into something warm and wide-eyed. It’s comforting in its reminiscence and warmed by the thought of being welcomed in a place you didn’t call home before but now, will always consider it to be.
ASIP001 Kit -Tre-em
