Graham Smith | Kleenex Girl Wonder
For some reason I got on this Kleenex Girl Wonder kick tonight and felt the need to write it down.
I was first introduced to them (wikipedia) (or him, Graham Smith) at my local CD shop, Shake It Records (beware of the pointless “Media Player” popup), while living in Cincinnati. One of the owners (2 brothers and if I remember correctly, they are are twins, at least fraternal, or they just looks a lot alike) told me that “this guy is one of the best songwriters today”. So I bought After Mathematics.
It has it’s highs and lows, mostly due to the subject matter, Love. But on the whole, the lo-fi effect of the recordings give a distinct vibrancy, and yes, I have to agree, Graham is a great songwriter. Not only the lyrics, which are easily accessible, but the composition and instrumentation of the music as well. Like the Talking Heads who reclaimed Pop music during the 80′s , Kleenex Girl Wonder contributed to the same effort in the late 90′s-00′s.
Here’s a good example via youtube off of “Smith”, Reunited Airlines . Also a good album except for the early 90′s-style interstitial (a new word borrowed from my day job) skits.
Hey man, cheers. Noticed you don’t have a link to http://www.kgw.me, aka http://kleenexgirlwonder.bandcamp.com – everything will be posted there shortly, including a new record sooner than later.
Also the only day job I know of that would teach you the word interstitial is Flash ads, unless you’re a biochemist or some shit, so holla at me for info on that tip if you so desire as well.
Thanks for commenting Graham! Links have been updated. Looking forward to seeing all your music in one place.
Yeah, you’re pretty close on my day job, while I don’t do Flash banners (or any Flash development, for that matter), I am a web developer. The lingo just starts to stick.