Necessity is the mother of invention, as the old saying goes, and it certainly applies to 20, what might be called a ‘new/old’ album from singer-songwriter David Kitt.
Unable to tour due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and being without the rights to his 2001 debut album, Small Moments, yet wanting to mark its 20th anniversary, the solution was this - a ‘best of’ where Kitt has re-recorded, and re-arranged, songs from across his career.
Kitt never became as big as his early albums and shows indicated, but in recent years he has successfully reinvented himself via his New Jackson and Sansbut personas, while still pursuing the singer-songwriter path.
That this album features Villagers’ Conor O’Brien, The Magic Numbers’ Michelle Stoddart, Katie Kim, and members of The Redneck Manifesto, show the respect he commands among his peers.
Indeed, hearing these songs again - sometimes in more low key and mellow arrangements, at other times from a different angle than originally, but with most (deliberately ) harking back to the intimacy which made Small Moments special - is a reminder that Kitt has penned many fine songs over the years, and deserves more recognition than he is often given.
Highlights include the indie-folk sway of ‘Winter Song’ with haunting backing vocals from Conor O’Brien; the reimagining of ‘One Clear Way’, where, even stripped down, it loses none of its drive and power; the off kilter trippy soul of ‘Headphones’; and the way in which the soul-rock of ‘Guilty Prayers, Pointless Ends’ rises to that ‘Memory Of A Free Festival’ like group chant at the end. 20 is a delight to dip in and out of and to re-explore Kitt’s catalogue.
