Nicholas Krgovich
The Hills
[Tin Angel Records]
Nicholas Krgovich is an Canadian songwriter of little renown, in no small part for his propensity to release his songs on a variety of short-lived projects (P:ano, No Kids and Gigi). Krgovich was over a decade into his career before he released under his own name and 15 years into it when he released probably the most complete record of his career, 2014’s On Sunset.
The Hills is inescapably of Los Angeles. It forms a companion piece to On Sunset by similarly filling its songs with vignettes and character studies of Angelenos. Likewise, the arrangements here take on characters. Written in the Wind lopes along like jazz ballad on wobbling double bass notes and a Chet Baker impersonation, while the bouncing piano riff of The Place Goes Quiet calls to mind Joe Jackson-esque huckster. Intertwined throughout are orchestral interludes (called ‘Details’) which lend to the already filmic quality of the record by making it feel like a ’90s soundtrack: a mixtape of pre-existing songs interspersed with key moments from the score.
These instrumentals stunt the record’s momentum but amplify its sense of place. You can easily imagine the film reel cutting from the moon-bathed Hollywood Hills to some down-at-heel dive bar on the Sunset Strip to follow another of Krgovich’s cast members on their travails through the Los Angeles night. The Hills occasionally plays a bit too much at pastiche (which Krgovich has remarkable talent for), but is nonetheless the work of an artist who’s sinking into a delightful groove after a peripatetic decade and a half in relative obscurity.
Words: Ian Lamont
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