– SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER –
I am underneath a kitchen. Upstairs they’re serving soup. On tonight’s menu: Kindness, the creation of London lad, Adam Bainbridge. His name has been floating about the online music atmosphere since 2009, but now in 2012 he has released his debut album, ‘World, You Need A Change Of Mind,’ produced by French dance producers, Cassius. The sound of Kindness can be described as off-kilter funk, heavily inspired by the scattering percussive rhythms of Arthur Russell and the melodic delicacy of Talking Heads.
There is a sense of anxious interest in Kindness, the venue is packed to capacity, and some people have to stand on the stairs. The eerie glow of the drum-machine panel waits, as the unequivocally talented band climb on and pick up their instruments. The bassist thuds the groove of ‘Cyan’, the drummer rattles a tambourine and the synth punctuates. A tall, slender figure with long brown-hair slithers on with his two gorgeous female singers, and their harmonies melt together.
We then blast into ‘Doingsong’ a sexy bass-slapping disco tune, the singers get down, and I feel like I am transported into a sweaty club, watching a modern day Chic. His on-stage performance is at times statuesque, but at others agile like a young cat on the prowl. Despite the limited size of the stage, he navigates around speakers to ensure that the groove is reaching all areas.
He draws upon the 80’s dance sound, especially in ‘That’s Alright,’ which features the two female singers on main vocals, and that ‘synth-punch’ which can often be heard on tracks such as Madonna’s ‘Vogue.’ For ‘Gee Up,’ the band treat us to clever improvisations, “we just extended this in sound check,” and so they incorporate Womack & Womack’s ‘Teardrops’ and even Anita Baker’s ‘Sweet Love,’ as if they were running through a playlist of influences. There is a change in mood as they sing, ‘House,’ a slow and romantic melody, “I can’t give you all that you need, but I’ll give you all that I feel.”
Kindness are a high-energy live act, the musicians move and gyrate like dancers at a carnival, and at one point Bainbridge joins us on the floor, and loses himself in the music. I uncontrollably start waving my arms about, but as I look around, some people are standing motionless. Kindness unite so many genres together, that it blends into one delicious disco soup. I know disco might have lost its label of ‘cool’ since the late 1970’s, but, come on world; you really need a change of mind.
