Kiwi Jr. is no stranger to making catchy indie rock tunes, often encompassing anthemic-like hooks that manage to trap themselves in the listener’s head. Their debut is a brilliant example of how a relatively young band can leave a lasting impression with their writing. Although, on “Blowin’ Up” the writing is much less focused on delivering a catchy hook and more about making existential pop rock cuts with some of the band’s best writing on their verses. The existential writings and cynicism of their music prior hasn’t been lost on this LP, in fact it’s been heightened far more than before. A more figurative and poetic selection of tracks, Kiwi Jr. set themselves up for their most impressive penmanship yet.

The record kicks off with what is possibly their best intro track “Photos of the Reenactment”, mixing some of the softer and anthemic sides of their indie style. Combined with a subtle country twang this record kicks off rather strong with the first half being a very consistent compilation of some of the bands most quirky and fun songs so far. Title track “Blowin’ Up” continues this sentiment having more almost nonsensical moments lyrically that fit into the themes of existentialism and looking inward. This record also has a somewhat strange and vague concept explained in the Bandcamp description of the LP. Detailing a nonsensical storyline of multiple different protagonists: “the mother-daughter crimesolving duo of Photos of the Reenactment; a witness relocated to Hard Drive, Ontario; teenagers crossing the Detroit River to piggyback on the Canadian drinking age… Pure Michigan at last.”

Tracks like “Hard Drive, Ontario” serve to bring back a somewhat familiar feeling of their older records with what is likely the most catchy hook where Gaudet bellows how hard it is to “leave home with your heart on a hard drive”. Possibly lamenting over the success the band has found itself seeing in recent memory; however the storylines of this record are so abstract at times it’s somewhat hard to discern. Other tracks like “Pure Michigan” and “Painting After Painting” also help to further this anthemic approach to hooks and songwriting the band has been known for on prior releases.

Instrumentally, this feels much more in line with some of the bands more indie rock and power pop outings of their first two records, although does feature some of the experimentation found on their 2022 outing. “Pure Michigan” is one of the most potent tracks instrumentally with a hard power pop guitar riff that is so damn slick and helps to make the track one of the highlights of the record. However, we also see some slower cuts across the tracklist with “New Jade Rabbit” and “Caught in the Wild” that slow down the tone of the record but feature some incredibly passionate vocal performances – the aforementioned track “New Jade Rabbit” being a great example of this. Gaudet, Murphy, Walker and Moore do well to make this project one of their best produced and layered yet.

Gaudet’s lyricism across the LP is truly something that only he could come up with, either being something personal or the work of an aspiring fiction author. In moments it reminds the listener of Weezer‘s Rivers Cuomo or even Cameron Winter with the more absurdist writing seen across the record. Additionally, the range of sounds the band draws from with this record helps to make it their most diverse sounding sonically thus far. The experimentation also works better than some of the synth heavy sections of their last outing – still seen on tracks such as “World Like Polly”, feeling a lot more like a natural and comfortable progression when compared to that LP. The overall pacing of the record seems to be a strength that the band hasn’t previously shown before, getting slower, more intimate and increasingly disorienting as the record goes on, with a few bursts of energy with some of the later cuts.

While this record does certainly satisfy an itch for new music from the band, it’s hard to see where they go next after this. With the enigmatic lyricism seen on here, the band could easily go in a more psychedelic direction – blending those elements with the power pop leanings they have already established. This record does seem to teeter into that territory but doesn’t fully commit to the kaleidoscopic sounds they could’ve easily tapped for inspiration. Despite that, this album feels like their most inspired and consistent to date, with much more experiments that pan out successfully.

Pre-order Blowin’ Up by Kiwi Jr. HERE