Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
For many different reasons we may ask of ourselves what has become of the America we loved, the post war influence on modern culture that caught the likes of Generation X in its opportunity and the promise of freedom from the wasted youth and lost home grown government blandness, or even a haven for the Millennial seeking inspiration in social issues and the recent of music from the land of the neo-punk and new goth standards, all would feel entitles to ask what has become of America.
The decline in the appeal of the country of hope and self-made fortunes and big dreams is one that has hit all outside of the United States hard, but perhaps not as hard as those who built the dream as the country became a beacon in the days after World War Two ended.
The America Chronicles is an album that to which arguably only Kemp Harris could reveal in such a timely and constructive manner. The journey between times through the eyes of a gay black man whose soulful renditions of life are captured with every ounce of historical insight at his disposal, with every personal belief that he can hold in his emotional voice
Produced by the celebrated Freebo, the perspective and long-term assessment of presenting pain and turning it into art is a process of deep understanding, and as the memories of segregation, of the period of the seemingly endless Vietnam War and the recognition that at times America is not what it preaches, the framing of songs such as Don’t You Hear Them America, Edenton, Standing Your Ground, This Is America, Right, and Goodnight America, the lived experience dominates and makes the lyrical prowess stand out as a critique sharpened by the fortunes of having been on the right side of history.
Each note, each passing moment is a story of itself, it is the account of a soul as it observes the suffering of life, and perhaps the devotion to which he has he found to making sure that these issues are never erased from the minds of the public he adores, to certify that it happened lest the sands of Time deny the wrongs took place.
A truly riveting record of living history, Kemp Harris is poet of music that should never be allowed to step back from the microphone; that his voice always be heard.
Kemp Harris releases The America Chronicles on July 4th.
Ian D. Hall