I recently had the opportunity to chat with Isaac and Thorry Koren, two brothers who make up the band The Kin. The brothers hail from Australia, but are currently living in New York and Bucks County, PA respectively. We spoke a bit about their new album "Rise and Fall", the art of sibling rivalry, and some of their major influences. The band has a truly unique story to tell when it comes to their recording process for the album. The entire album was recorded in an old farmhouse in Bucks County, PA. (note: brother Thorry is currently living in the very same house) The brothers played all of their own instruments for the disc, and had the assistance of producer Nic Hard. The three of the basically "roughed" it up and recorded the whole disc right there within the walls of this home. According to Isaac, the acoustics were fantastic and on more than a few tracks you can hear the ambient sounds of fire crackling, etc. Check out "Desert Rose", the light background noise of the fire crackling adds an amazing element to this track on the album. The reason behind deciding to record this way was simple: "New York City can be so stressful and busy, recording at the farmhouse was our way slowing things down a bit".

When asked about the brothers' chemistry as a song writing and performance duo the response may come as a bit of a surprise. According Isaac and Thorry "The rarely disagree about music choice and the songwriting process is very natural and flowing". The band's lyrics "come from conversations, rather than actual experiences". They do things collaboratively and everything just seems to fall into place. I had to ask about sibling rivalry and was told "sibling rivalry is rhetorical, it will always happen". They are brothers of course they fight, but definitely "not like Oasis", a band of brothers who fighting is notoriously violent and off the wall. Do not get the wrong idea, they are not ridiculous "lovey dovey" brothers, each has his own point of view and they argue like most siblings. At times the brothers act as strong opposites, but they always come together and make a consensus. Isaac describes the writing process to be as if a third person comes into the equation and that is the embodiment of their song writing.

The brothers mostly list their parents as strong influences musically. Mom was really into Janis Joplin and the soulful music of Otis Redding. "Mom still looks like a gypsy, with long blonde hair and leather pants". Their mother also just so happens to be one of the original cast members in the touring production of the Broadway musical "Hair". Dad on the other hand was huge Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin fan, so of course these acts have influenced The Kin's sound. The cite Pink Floyd as a major influence musically, as well as, lyrically. According to Isaac, the band should not be compared to Duran Duran or U2 as quoted on their official website. They jokingly claim that should be taken down from the page and a more apt comparison would be Imogen Heap or Coldplay. The Kin definitely do try their very best to keep their sound as original as possible. During the recording process their producer was "very hard" on them when it came to originality. "Anytime a song would come too close to sounding like Coldplay, for example, Nic would make them start all over again, and this went on each and every time". It may have been harsh at the time, but it paid off in the long run by allowing the band to record one of the most original and organic albums I have heard in quite a long time.

When I asked Isaac and Thorry where they saw the future of music heading, and where they saw The Kin in the future, their answer was a little surprising. "We do not see the future of our career, but the overall future of music." "We want to be the first band to play in outer space". Isaac also refers to the fact that artists keep raising the bar, and that at times almost would make you want to pack up and quit, however this very same situation is what keeps a band going well into the future. "You in turn have to raise your own bar or standards to keep up with everyone else". The Kin are very active in the Save Darfur campaign, especially now that the media hype has died down on the issue; it is certainly one that still needs to be addressed. When asked about music downloading, The Kin feel that we spend "too much time fighting music downloading and we need to just accept the fact that it is around to stay". Isaac claims" Sometimes I just wish I could give our music away for free, if possible, but we have to making a living as well". The Kin are not concerned with national publicity, they would be happy to share their music with even just a small crowd of less than 500 people. The brothers do try to maintain their own MySpace page, but are not always able to answer all questions or comments.

The band has recently been on tour with the Pat McGee band, and if anyone is aware of how tours work, the newcomer band is usually pranked on the last night of the tour. The Kin were skipped by this ritual, so they decided to prank The Pat McGee band themselves so, the final night the boys came out as back-up singers and played with no pants. I am sure that was quite a show, I am told the video should be up in The Kin's video blog sometime very soon. They can add that video, to the already hilarious video of The Kin's fake arrest, which ends up with their freedom at their homecoming show in New York City. These guys are definitely worth checking out in a city near your, the are the whole package: Great sound, performance, and personalities!

Check out this video of The Kin:

 

 

Please visit The Kin's Official Site
MySpace Page
Youtube Channel

Rise and Fall The Kin CD