(Self Starter Foundation)
Every indie rock band is not the same, and as proof of this, The Detachment Kit comes hurtling full speed out of Chicago with their first semi-major album They Raging. Quiet Army. Penetrating, intelligent, angry and at times beautiful, the disc will leave an impression on anyone who thinks that every indie band sounds like the Get Up Kids. At face value, a descendent of At The Drive In, D-Kit hasn't been around long enough to conjure up any hype, but that is due to their small beginnings and not the band's dynamic.
Lead singer and guitarist, Ian Menard, digs The Velvet Underground, the Pixies, Snoop Dogg and Weezer (the Pinkerton era). If someone crammed those four sounds into a blender, D-Kit's sound would emerge.
Menard doesn't yet have great range, but at times he is crafty enough to trick us into thinking he does. Spoken word, gentle singing and a fast, hard vocal pattern that Bob Dylan may have mastered had he been born 40 years later, stream from Menard. At moments, one, two or all three of the other members of the band join in screaming with Menard.
Guitars and drums pound forward, then mellow out, only to burst ahead again. Vocals follow, trying to keep up. On \11.22.63,"" the second, and maybe most emotional track of the album, a slow drum kick evolves toward a classic rock guitar riff, and before long an all-out battle is taking place inside D-Kits world as Menard all out tears across sonic capabilities screaming, ""In the balance, in the breeze/Hold that trigger with some feelings/As the choir sings out of key/They sing blood! Mistrust! And the love of God!/Red, white, blue and bleed/Through the pearly gates I see/Dead air, an army of greed."" It doesn't take a history buff to figure out what he is so pissed off about.
Throughout the album, the love D-Kit has for their craft shines through, as does their determination to make an impact on anyone that listens, and in any way they can. Drummer Toddrick Spalding pushes the band in so many different directions that the band has to fight to hold on, but when the drums, guitars and vocals explode together, it pops.
