It doesn’t even take a minute into the first song “My Kind Of Love” before you can hear the professional, confident approach to music that Kimia Penton has. On her new EP, she examines the Lessons From Life And Love among beautiful rhythms and fantastic melodies from her violin playing. It’s a combination I’m always looking forward to – I love violin and it’s still all-too-rare in music; Kimia plays it gorgeously and demonstrates a true display of artistry, skill and control on “My Kind Of Love” as the EP opens up.
She writes a hell of a song & melody…”The Door” is a beautiful example of her ability to connect through both the words and music. Cleverly written from verse to chorus, “The Door” changes its energy back & forth…the words shift between the despair & hopefulness that come along with love. Kimia’s done well to convey the emotion of her words in this melody…the piano line ranges from inspiring tones to melancholy melody and overall this second tune certainly confirms this fine lady’s ability to write memorable material.
“Pieces” is interesting for the assembly, structure and combination of exotic sounds to make up its smooth rhythm. One of my favourite performances from Kimia on this song – I love the confidence, I love her innovative way of singing these aching words into the microphone. The violin is once again completely outstanding – she expresses emotion every bit as well through her instrument as she does her voice, it’s fantastic and recorded perfectly. Returning to center-stage, the violin only makes a brief appearance before putting Kimia back into the spotlight to end “Pieces” flawlessly.
Clever lyrics saved “Crossroads” a little for me; I like Kimia’s performance for the most part, but the song itself sounds a little less innovative than what’s come at us so far. That doesn’t make it bad by any stretch…in fact it’s a really sweet song…but its comfort comes from its simplicity…and Kimia’s got me listening for a little more at this point in the EP…might be just me! I found the simplicity and beauty of “Start Again” to be more sincere and perhaps a little more genuine by comparison. A true highlight on the album – “Start Again” would be the song I’d be going with if I was the ol’ A&R man…this is a beautifully written song and Kimia breathes life into each word as she sings. Her instincts take her to some interesting choices that I think are different than a lot of typical singers make…and even though this song borders on both soft-rock AND country, “Start Again” retains its sweet slow-pop vibe. Similar magic in the piano and emotion to that you’d find in Chantal Kreviazuk’s music…”Start Again” could just as easily be called ‘repeat me over and over’ – great tune, fantastic melody and wonderful performance.
The final tune on Kimia’s Lessons From Life And Love EP livens things up a little to make the most of your attention and create a memorable rhythm & performance at the end with “Memories Of You.” Leaning towards a slightly more modern-vibe with the additional groove & attitude in the vocals – Kimia’s done great here to project confidently and rhythmically against a perfectly assembled track with guitars, electro-ish drum sounds and smartly placed additional layers of vocals. She’s definitely caught a really captivating vibe on this final cut – “Memories Of You” following “Start Again” sends this EP into two of its most highlight moments right before the end and really leave you with a fantastic impression of Kimia Penton and the music she makes.
Find out more about her at her Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/kimiajourneys
JER@SBS – http://sleepingbagstudios.ca
