Family bands are nothing new; The Carter Family, The Allman Bros., Kings Of Leon. The idea of making music with your family has many precedents in modern music. So on that score Kitty, Daisy & Lewis (Durham) from London bring nothing new to the table.
Recording on vintage equipment using antique microphones and even pressing your own vinyl has also become an established throwback i8n our modern digital times. Just ask Jack White and his decidedly retro Third Man empire. So on that score Kitty, Daisy & Lewis bring nothing new to the table.
Given that on two of their most marketable quirks K, D & L are treading such well worn territory it should also come as no surprise that their music brings nothing new to the table. The thirteen tracks presented on Smoking In Heaven are full of such familiar R&B, blues, swing, and jazz that they could easily have been recorded when Lewis' collection of studio equipment was all fresh.
The thing is that despite nothing new being brought to the table, the Durham siblings haven't come to the dinner party empty handed. The familiarity of the music, the predictability of the lyrics, and even the old fashioned recording techniques have given the album a comfortable warmth.
They're not afraid to settle into a good old fashioned blues jam either. A couple of the tracks here top out the seven minute mark, and despite the fact that they don't really go anywhere with them you can't help but feel the album would be diminished were they edited down or faded out.
In the end I liked Smoking In Heaven. It brought a little warmth into a cold winter week. I just don't feel like I've been listening to a new album, despite it being a 2011 release. It's an album I'm glad to have, and I will listen to again, but I'm looking forward to getting back to new music.
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