All We Left Behind – Highland Kites (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

Not all music has to push boundaries, kick in doors, change the musical landscape. In fact it is best if most of it doesn’t, imagine the mess. Some music knows where it belongs, has clearly defined comfort zones, which is fine because so do most people. Highland Kites comfort zones lie broadly in a melodic, accessible indie-folk place, which in itself gives enough scope to be, if not overtly adventurous then certainly wonderfully creative.

Classical meets pop piano, chiming guitars and emphatic drums all find their way into the mix as does an atmospheric and slightly reflective melancholy on songs such as Black and White. You then realise that the comfort zone isn’t so comfortable after all and the middle of the road journey has soon left the tarmac for dusty back roads and off the map dirt tracks that lead to some darker, edgier thought processes and pass through some haunting musical landscapes.

It is an album that delivers unexpected rewards the further into it you travel, one where you eventually throw away the map and just wait with anticipation to see what appears around the next corner.