Comeback In Anger

By Joe Kavanagh

Aside from a few notable examples, only a handful of artists manage to reinvent themselves successfully in the music industry once the inevitable downward turn comes in their career. For some, this precipitous decline does not manifest itself for many years, allowing them time to create a significant body of work, whilst others are not so fortunate and find themselves dropped by their label before the euphoria of being signed has even sunk in properly. Irish singer/songwriter David Kitt certainly falls into the latter category. Just over five years ago, he was considered to be one of the great hopes for the future of contemporary Irish rock music, held up as a shining example of innovation and ability, with constant comparisons to tragic singer/songwriter Nick Drake and for a time was even considered as important to the survival of Rough Trade Records as the other major act that signed with the label around the same time: The Strokes. Whilst the New York group's career has seen them enter the realm of stadium rock in recent times, Kitt found himself dropped by his label, savaged by the same critics that had once sung his praises and facing an uncertain future in the industry. For many, such a devastating blow would have led them to walk away from the pressure and acrimony, but Kitt has instead used the experience to grow as an artist and businessman. He has even managed to emerge out the other side with an angrier, more intense sound that has the eyes and ears of the European music press on him once again as he prepares to release his fifth album later this month.

Raised in Dublin, the son of well-known Fianna Fail politician, Tom, the younger Kitt was immersed in music from a early age, as his father and uncles had a successful second career as Irish folk musicians. Picking up the guitar as a teenager, he absorbed the music of his elders but also developed an interest in hip hop and techno music that began to filter through into his songwriting process. By the time he was pursuing a degree in politics at Trinity College Dublin, Kitt was already a fixture on the local music circuit, where he gained attention for showing up with a mini-disc player and peppering his original set with unusual cover versions from a whole range of musical genres. Upon finishing his university course, he took a masters degree in music technology and used the year to begin recording his work in a custom built studio in his bedroom. The result would eventually form the seven-track album, Small Moments, which was released independently in 2000 and soon made Kitt the hottest music property in the country. Chosen to represent the Irish rock fraternity at the prestigious annual South-by-Southwest music festival in Texas, he played in one of the more obscure venues at the event but was lucky enough to have Geoff Travis (founder of Rough Trade Records) present in the scant crowd. Travis offered to distribute Kitt's debut album on the strength of his performance, opening him up to an entirely new audience and setting the seeds of the UK success that would follow.

In 2001, Kitt released his follow-up, The Big Romance, in 2001 on Warner Brothers subsidiary Blanco Y Negro, and immediately became a darling of music critics on both sides of the Irish Sea. The album's singer/songwriter style, combing acoustic sensibilities with cutting-edge beats and electronics, proved an instant hit in Ireland and saw Kitt begin to sell out music venues in the UK. Tours followed with everyone from Mercury Rev to Arab Strap and Yo La Tengo, as Kitt's career continued to go into overdrive and much of the next two years were spent on the road, crisscrossing the US and Europe. By 2003 Kitt had begun work on his third album and met a DJ named Polly, who would eventually become his wife. Unlike earlier works, the recording process did not go smoothly as Kitt spent frustrating times working on the album in Ireland, France and the US. Eager to grow as a songwriter, he also began to expand his musical horizons, as Polly introduced to a whole range of soul, reggae and other influences to his palate. The results appeared in 2003, when Square 1 made its debut at number one in the Irish charts, racking up platinum sales in only two weeks. The album fared much worse with critics who were not amused with Kitt's new soulful sound, viewing it almost as a betrayal of his earlier more innovative edge. Lyrically the album also suffered as Kitt's feelings of unadulterated love for his wife leaked into virtually every song on the album, leading to a result that many felt was overly heavy on treacle. The knives were also out when it came to press reports on his live shows, with Kitt's new full band faring little better with critics than the album did.

Many journalists were eager to point out that Kitt's flight of fancy had destroyed many of the elements that made him so compelling in the first place and apparently his record company agreed, with Warner Brothers dropping him shortly afterward.

After taking only the briefest of time to come to terms with such a substantial setback, Kitt decided to take a more hands on approach to his career, setting up his own label, Dublin Discs, and calling on his old contact Geoff Travis to set up a distribution deal for his music. He also returned to the recording studio and - going against the advice of virtually everyone around him - began working on a collection of cover versions for his latest project. The Black and White Notebook hit shelves in 2005 and once again proved successful in Ireland but hardly set the world on fire anywhere else. Taking songs by artists as diverse as Toots & the Maytals, Beatles and Sonic Youth, Kitt attempted to make radically different versions of the tracks with relatively mixed results but a memorable version of Thin Lizzy's classic, Dancing in the Moonlight, did achieve a modicum of success in the US and overall, the album restored the hopes of those that once held Kitt up as a shining light on the Irish music scene.

The last few months would, however, seem to signal that Kitt's time in the wilderness is coming to an end as he went on a series of tours of the UK and Europe towards the end of last year, both as a solo artist and - more notably - as a critically acclaimed opening act for the Magic Numbers. Once again, Kitt's songwriting has taken a new artistic turn, exhibiting a previously absent edge that has pervaded both his music and lyrics, as evidenced by the songs that have begun appearing on his MySpace website over the past six months. Armed with a far rockier edge and almost tetchy in its overall tone, the songs are far more vibrant than anything that the Dublin songwriter has produced over the past couple of albums. Many critics are already claiming that Kitt is back to his very best on the basis of these tracks but it will not be until his fifth album, the defiantly titled, Not Fade Away, hits shelves later on this month, when we will find out if David Kitt is truly back on track or just the beneficiary of a type of journalistic inertia.