Scene Magazine, June 26-July 2, 1997
Volume 28, No. 26
Livewire


Full Blown Kirk, Hesohi and Akshun and Conspiracy
Peabody's Down Under, June 20

FBK excerpt
...Those in search of an actual performing band had to wait until quarter past midnight, when headliners (and likely future stars) Full Blown Kirk took the stage in the infant minutes of summer '97 to the rather self-explanatory swing of  "Trip Hop" [now titled Unconscious Mind]

From the instant FBK started their set, the previously detached crowd suddenly became very attentive and involved. Now there's no denying that this Kent quintet's music has gained a following on its own merits (and some fanatical WENZ support), but it was also quite obvious that a decent share of the bar patrons had their eyes firmly rooted to the fore of the stage where the band's strikingly lovely lead vocalists Alison Harper Scola and Krista Tortora held court with effortless ease.

Scola and Tortora's harmonies remained exquisite throughout the night (Tortora's comparatively lower register in particular brings to mind the mesmerizing tones of the Cocteau Twins' Elizabeth Fraser), while their individual performing styles were interestingly opposed. Scola was an energetic, grinning dervish, bouncing tiny rubber balls about with abandon and radiating contagious glee, while Tortora's more accusatory poses and arched eyebrows more closely mirrored the music's serrated lyrical content -- her amused eyes were subverted with dispassionate, icy cool or restrained menace, depending on the mood.

The crowd was also attentive of FBK guitarist Jack Velvet Randall -- effectively Full Blown Kirk's other visual focal point -- who offered up some tasteful (and occasionally caustic) accompaniment to the looping rhythms. Randall's big chance to shine in the spotlight was on the more intense, straight-rocking instrumental, "Smoke." Keyboardist Joe Minadeo and drummer Dave Braun remained largely in the shadows throughout the show, with Minadeo coming forward to lend some bass assistance on newer tracks like "Smoke," "Goddess" "Azul" and "Frola." Ten of the 14 songs performed that night were new compositions, and many of them (especially the excellent "222," the erhu-tinted "Horehound" and the finale "Grave") handily eclipsed the already stunning tracks on their debut cassette, Faiza.

Over the course of their 90-minute set, Full Blown Kirk's seductive melding of fire and ice had the crowd eating out of the band's hands -- especially during the strobe-lit "Grave," when Scola reappeared in a slinky, black see-through negligee with a matching mask and silvery fingered gloves that gave her the appearance of "Cat-woman" crossed with "Freddy Krueger." Based on the band's extremely promising new material, the confident stage presence of Randall, Scola and Tortora, and the crowd's enthusiastic response, it would appear that the future of this talented outfit is indeed slanted on an upward curve. A helluva ball was indeed had by all.

-- Victor Cooke