Review: Christian McKee – This Dojo

Christian McKee categorises himself as alternative/indie on his MySpace site. To be more specific though, his main calling card is 1980’s pop-soul; his key strengths being his warm voice and his ear for a decent tune. It sounds simple but McKee does it with style again on his latest EP/mini album.

For the opening salvo of  ‘Jesus Humiliator’ and ‘Orange Face’, the lyrics may be biting but the melody is always to the fore. ‘First In Love Again’ combines his bedroom soul sound with added guitar and even a song called ‘Crackpipe’ has bags of tenderness but is spoiled somewhat by the American dialogue at its conclusion. That said, ‘Ting’ – a simple but lovely synth passage and some more American voice samples – is arguably the most memorable moment on here.

For ‘This Dojo’ McKee largely sticks to what he’s good at. Some may see this as playing safe and lacking ambition but I find a lot of comfort in his reliability. In fairness, he also has made better albums but – as always – the pick of the crop here stands up against his contemporaries.

Web Sites:
Christian McKee Official Site
Christian McKee MySpace

Further Listenng:
Merz

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