Kyle & The Pity Party

When you do not stop listening to a song, there is something special, addictive. To try to define it is to find at the same time the magic formula, the one that makes a good title. Record companies and labels of all kinds have tried, we may have found the secret of the song effective, which makes buy millions of people but with Kyle & The Pity Party, we talk about emotion, sensation and music .

A few days ago, we did not know the group that is in its infancy but one thing is certain, we will not stop following those who will certainly succeed in surprising you with a project called Home that we had the opportunity to listen in preview. Yes, we also have this privilege which we enjoy here with great joy.

In this project of four titles My Car, a beautiful introduction to the subject that shows you a certain musical elegance, a fairness in both production and arrangement that put you directly into a world that is inspired by blues and folk acoustic. A combination that many artists experiment but that the quartet masters with agility very surprising. It is surprising, however, that the group does not enjoy a greater notoriety for the moment. By listening to Home, you will probably ask yourself the question. You will navigate without hesitation in various environments that range from the most classic blues-folk to something more psyche rock as in Indigo.

We will surely not reveal to you all the secrets of this little gem. Do not hesitate to follow the group on social networks to be informed about the output of their project. - Iggy Magazine

The US gaze-rock quartet Kyle & The Pity Party will be releasing the EP Home tomorrow.

Kyle & The Pity Party
Kyle & The Pity Party

The first song to surface from the four track EP, which is available as a stand alone single on bandcamp – My Car – floats through the room in washes of blurry reverb and expansive echo which cloaks the room in a slowly drifting mist as the composition surfaces from the speakers as though filtered through voile whilst a dreamy vocal gently massages the tensor tympani. - EMERGING INDIE BANDS

The short-playing EP serves two traditional roles in rock-band strategy. Its primary purpose is introductory. EPs are often an opening salvo, a proof-of-concept. They are perforce modest: four or six songs, basic album art and nothing too conceptually extravagant in the music itself. They stake out a spot and say, “Remember the name, if so inclined.” “LP forthcoming.”

The other function of EPs – and the reason why they maintain value throughout the rock-band life cycle – is revolutionary, or at least reintroductory: to announce change and reestablish identity. EPs are naturally congenial to coherence and focus. The short form encourages “single-effect” statements and thematic consistency, both because the artists can be hyperselective and because the length of an EP mitigates monotony, makes variety less of a structural imperative. Established bands will often deploy a tight little EP to announce a rebirth or an identity experiment that falls outside the parameters that they have established with their work to date.

Home, the new EP by Kingston’s Kyle & the Pity Party, manages to do both. The titular Kyle (McDonough) is no newbie to the scene; he has been steadily writing and releasing impressive songs for a long time. In his role as front-of-house engineer at BSP and other local venues, he is known to many in the music community. And this band, the Pity Party, has been booking aggressively for a couple of years, playing all the clubs and events, grabbing every national-act opening slot they can and just generally saying “yes” to everything. They’ve established their brand – a high-drama, romantic and emotionally charged take on two-guitar indie-rock – by working their asses off.

While it is not their recording debut, Home has the feel of a tidy four-song “This is us” introduction to something most of us already knew. But it also does that other EP thing. It is nothing if not a deeply coherent and unwavering aesthetic statement, both musically and thematically. It nails down the band’s current stylistic coordinates and influences unambiguously, a modern and slightly grungified update of ’80s New Romanticism: Goth, New Order and the Furs desynthesized and reconstructed as indie-rock. The vocal delivery is pure ’80s youth-culture declamation, but the music also tastes of the easy/queasy guitar sheets of My Bloody Valentine, some Pixies logic in the arrangements and even a lightly incongruous touch of Pavement grad-school stumbling in the feel.

Grave, quavering and thick with broad-stroke existential crisis, McDonough’s operatic-indie vocals dominate the center of the mix and the listening experience. The lyrical themes are a complex yin/yang construct of modern alienation and the persistence of idealism and hope. In the first single, “My Car,” McDonough sings of a kind of voluntary estrangement – indeed, a voluntarily homelessness – preferred to the empty shell of a failed relationship, a failed home and (it is easy to extrapolate) a failed culture.

At the back end of the EP, the highlight track “Winona Forever” clings to the heightened romance of youth and its refusal to give over easily to the life that society has laid out. But Home is a modern EP, not a nostalgic one. Even as it borrows their voice, its grim sense of the world would have scared the crap out of the Breakfast Club kids. This is not, “Oh shit, now I have to go make a lot of money in Reagan’s America,” but rather, “Oh shit, there’s nothing but wolves waiting for me in Trump’s America even if I wanted a comfortable middle-class life – only Mike Rowe’s Refrigerator Repair Academy or a life in the service sector.” With the monetized rock-star dream a non-starter, there isn’t even a vaguely viable myth of transcendence and triumph via art and passion to gamble on anymore. It’s f*cking bleak, which is why McDonough’s beseeching, romantic refrain, “Help me feel Winona forever,” seems relevant, genuinely romantic and desperate – and not at all retro. - Hudson Valley One

It’s been about two and a half years since I first stumbled across the little emo gem of an EP, Everything’s Bad, from Kingston, New York quartet Kyle & The Pity Party. I remember being exceptionally impressed with the way the band mixed various genres cohesively, making them accessible to just about any fan of good music.

Kyle & The Pity Party are back with a new EP titled Home which has the band refining their sound even more. There’s still a fair bit of genre melding, but Home is a much stronger statement of identity from the foursome. What hasn’t changed, is Kyle McDonough and co’s ability to pack an emotional punch lyrically, musically, and vocally. Home is only four tracks long, but’s a strong set of tracks that will leave you craving more at the end.



Album opener “Neon Lights” has Interpol inspired vocals mixed with a vast soundscape reminiscent of The War on Drugs. An infectious drum beat opens the track and it’s hard to resist bouncing along to it, especially when the glistening guitars come in. The song feels like it would be right at home in an 80’s movie montage of the main characters getting ready to hit the town for an unforgettable night.

Like “Neon Lights,” there’s a cinematic element to the EP’s second track “Indigo.” The opening guitars have a spaghetti western feel to them that make this track the perfect soundtrack for a road trip through the desert. The guitars are a good pscyhe rock / garage rock mix which works well with McDonough’s frantic croon as he sings about an all-consuming love. You can feel that sense of need on the blues inspired guitar solo that closes out the track perfectly.



“My Car” almost feels like the aftermath of “Indigo” where things didn’t work out. “I’ve been sleeping in my car / I’ve been sleeping alone at the bar / And I can’t go home cause it ain’t real / This is honesty, this is how I feel” McDonough laments over cascading guitar riffs. McDonough’s mournful vocals mixed with the drifting guitars create a wonderful dreamy yet disillusioned atmosphere that make it hard not to feel just as hopeless as McDonough seems to.

“Winona Forever” has a Doors psyche rock mixed with the cynicism of The Smiths feel to it. While the track tries to cling to the hopefulness of youth, the bleakness of reality lingers just under the surface. There’s a shimmer to the guitars but it seems just a little off. The more ominous bass line lurks just below, mirroring the grim sense of reality that looms underneath like a shark circling its prey. “Help me feel Winona forever” McDonough begs on the chorus, echoing the desperate feeling we all hang on to as the disillusionment of youth begins to dissipate with age.

Kyle & The Pity Party manage to release another stellar set of songs that will leave the listener wanting more. While they’ve mostly ditched the emo sound of their first release, the band still shows they can masterfully combine genres to create a sound that is both nostalgic and refreshing. There’s a wonderful back and forth of feelings of idealism and disenchantment with the world. I’m loving Home but I can’t help but look forward to the emotional journey Kyle & The Pity Party will take me on next.

You can stream Home via Bandcamp, Soundcloud, Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Amazon, and Google now.

Kyle & The Pity Party is hitting the road over the coming weeks.
2/9 – Kingston, NY @bsp
2/10- Boonton, NJ @ Boontunes
2/11 – Hamden, CT @ the Space
2/23- TBA
2/24- Pittsburgh, PA
2/25- New Paltz, NY @ Mom’s
3/2- Kingston, NY @ The Anchor
3/3- Bushwick, NY @ The Well
3/13 Boston, MA @ Thunder Road
3/16 Albany, NY @ The Low Beat
3/ 17- Woodstock, NY @Zadocks
More Dates TBA

Share this: - Under Bright Lights

One of my favorite places on the East Coast is Woodstock NY. Even though the infamous festival never happened there, the nostalgia of an era of music, tie dye, and patchouli lives on in the streets of Woodstock. My first relationship with music was classic rock and the hippie culture I pretended to be part of 30 years too late. I always fall right back to my roots when I visit even though I retired the tie dye.

It's no secret that I love Screaming Females and have found myself following them a lot this year. When I heard they were going to play in Woodstock, the 2 hr drive was not inconvenient, especially since Spowder would be opening up for them. This would be my third time seeing Spowder open up for Screaming Females. I phoned a friend and said, "Let's go up the country."

So we didn't play the actual Canned Heat song but we headed up to The Colony. It was a very interesting looking bar with its intimate lighting and wooden balcony. It was going to be a loud show for such a quaint venue. Maybe Bethel will hear the rumble.Kyle and The Pity Party opened up the show and seemed more fitting with the atmosphere of headbands and birkenstocks. Their melancholy strums and beats had me feeling like it was time to maybe put some of those old records on. That didn’t last too long as Spowder disrupted the show with their fast punk drive. I especially love watching lead singer Declan McCleary push the cinderblock up against the bass drum in between songs because Jenna Fairey is a powerhouse behind the drums. They shredded through tunes from their last album Health Palm. If you don't own a copy then, it’s time to get on it if you want to be one of the cool kids. - Cool Dad Music

Nietzsche’s in Buffalo is the place to be tonight as they host an exciting indie show with a stacked lineup.

Taking the stage and setting your Saturday night ablaze are Kingston’s very own evocative and electrifying indie rock quartet, Kyle & The Pity Party. If you haven’t heard of them, where have you been? These guys have been on the scene since 2012 and are known for their melodic and full-hearted barnburners that will rattle your ribcage and send shivers down your spine. Hopefully Nietzsche’s has insurance because this set is going to blow the roof off the place. Don’t miss it.

Providing trippy and colorfully abstract melodies to the evening are Buffalo faves, The Tins. Indie rock with a sense of wonder; their buoyant and playful psychedelic jams are positively excellent and enchanting. Think this is just fake news? Check them out for yourself tonight for a performance that will leave you blissfully floating on a cloud.

Rounding out the show are the sensational Buffalo shoegazers, Coral Collapse, and a special acoustic set from hometown melodic rockers, First Ward. Doors at 9pm, $7 tickets. This show is 21+. - Buffablog