April 29th, Los Angeles-based artist Khemet McConville shared a new stand-alone single titled ‘1216 E. Palm Dr.‘. The song, initially mellow, then growing more expansive across the track’s three distinct movements is an autumnal-soaked ballad with vernal accents of hope, about love lived and love lost. Driven by an acoustic guitar, biting through an atypical set of chord changes, this song delivers a unique listener experience that feels both modern and nostalgic. It’s the kind of song you hear and it feels as if you’ve known it your whole life but couldn’t quite put a name to the tune. Soon after it’s start we meet a muted trumpet that cries through a melodic motif that McConville slips in in various ways throughout the song.
Then, the vocal; smooth, breathy, melancholic, and patient, Khemet takes his time painting vignettes of the ending of a relationship. This all before the drums come in. And they do come in. After a brief interlude where listeners will hear soliloquies from multiple voice, there is a light accented sizzle of a high-hat followed by an invigorating snap of a snare drum, then the low end of the bass drum. With the classic jangle of a tambourine, the song is now surprisingly groovy, considering where it started off. The low end roots the song down, the beat drives it forward, the bass makes itself known with unique lines, the mix widens, and before you know it, you’ve reached the B-Section. Towering harmonies derivative of the Beach Boys and Stevie Wonder sing about the passage of time using references to the seasons. Then an instrumental break, and the finale. A ten-part horn canon builds over time until the emotion seems almost overwhelming. Just when it seems all too much you are released back into the calming embrace of the familiar piano phrase you’ve heard throughout the song. Fade to black.
Born in Pasadena California and described as “soulful, idiosyncratic and eclectic” Khemet is known for his ineffable compositions.
FFO: SADE, John Mayer, Elliot Smith
