Hidden Shoal is excited to announce the second single from Michael Kentoff’s forthcoming album Washington Hebrew. ‘Bank Holiday Wknd’ is available as a free download via Bandcamp. The album, including vinyl, will see release in September. The music of Michael Kentoff is available to license for use in film, tv, games, web etc via Hidden Shoal.
“Bank Holiday Wknd” reflects Kentoff’s state-of-mind when he wrote it: “I hated the humiliation of my job. When I started recording this record in my office (which made me the coolest or stupidest lawyer in America), the goal was two-fold: (a) do something I loved for a change, and (b) take my heart back.” But know this: no billable hours were harmed in the making of this record! This song was derived from two or three pieces of library music – cut up, warped, and reshaped. The trick was finding a meaningful melody from music Kentoff did not himself write from scratch on guitar or piano but from scraps of other people’s sounds. “Ultimately, I adore pop music and no matter the source or how abstract a song might be, it’ll always have to stand up for me as beautiful, emotionally-conflicted pop music.” The acidy Stratocaster in the coda is from The Caribbean’s Dave Jones.
For Michael Kentoff, singer-songwriter of the experimental pop group, The Caribbean, songwriting is problem solving. When Kentoff became fascinated with the electronic dance genre footwork, he wondered if he could apply indie-pop songcraft to its cut-up production style. The result is Kentoff’s self-titled solo debut, a satisfying amalgamation of adventurous soundscapes and well-crafted melodies.