Kaiak: “Smell The Coffee” will rekindle your fervor for musicians with passion!
Emil & Marcos, two Swedish musicians started the band Kaiak a year ago. Between songwriting sessions, they decided to start releasing music without a record company, just for fun. They love everything from Simon & Garfunkel, to Justin Timberlake, and Avicii. Starting with the instantly memorable melody, this recording tugs at the heart strings, emotionally involving the listener from the beginning and makes for a terrific listen. Kaiak creates a down home sound with a contemporary feel. They sing of pretty girls they love, to the tune of jangly acoustic guitars, pianos and banjos, unfamiliar to many of today’s radio waves. What they sing about transcends geography and time: love, loss, faith, inspiration…the smell of coffee, and perfect Sunday mornings. Proving men can be simple without being trite. Profound without harboring pride. Soul-baring but not burdensome.
A warm organic sound embraces their single “Smell The Coffee”, as the vocal performances swell with harmony, the story and lyrics give raw, poignant emotion without being sappy and remain sentimental without compromising integrity. They sing honestly. Their sound is unique.
Their physical presence welcoming and their genre unclassifiable, if not under the label of simply good music. If there is one attribute that can give a song more replay value, then it is the words to relate it to, and in turn, memories to associate it with. And here Kaiak builds its impenetrable fortress of captivating sound.
In its absolute simplicity, “Smell The Coffee” is a lyrical tour de force, with poignant lines hidden in every single verse that are emotionally potent enough to make it seem as though most other artists are merely going through the motions when they put pen to paper.
It’s the perfect song for almost any wistful moment, conjuring up sadness, love, and hope all at the same time. As with most great songs, this track pairs unprecedented straightforwardness, with unparalleled insight – it’s what makes this song damn near irresistible, together with the beautiful harmony and melody which are commonplace here.
I could go on for several more paragraphs extolling the virtues of “Smell The Coffee”, or Kaia, but instead I’ll leave you with this general advice: when you feel like music is failing you – becoming muddled, blurry, loud and brash – give this band a listen.
The power of the lyrics alone will rekindle your fervor for musicians with passion. Often it is taken for granted that artists make music that is important to them, but Kaia are one band for which I think that is true. When you listen to the Kaia you realize that they represent the beautiful simplicity and simple beauty of music. Regardless of genre.
