review

Singer-songwriter Kimmi Bitter overcame her debilitating stage fright by forming and fronting the heavy blues-rock band, The Night Howls in 2016. Bitter felt she was an artist born in the wrong era as she struggled to connect to modern Top 40 hits. As a result, Bitter immersed herself in various genres of the 60s and 70s analog era and ultimately dove into the roots revival scene and formed her band.

Bitter considers herself a throwback between the 1960s pop-country and the California singer-songwriter. She has a strong inclination toward the roots of American music and styles her sound around such classic artists like Patsy Cline with The Jordanaires, Loretta Lynn, and Linda Ronstadt.

The San Diego singer-songwriter eventually realized she was better suited to traditional country, wanting to record twangy tunes and stripped down ballads. This would propel Bitter to write and produce her self-released debut solo album, West Side Twang, in 2019. The five-track EP was recorded in line with Bitter’s strong belief in retro-technology and minimalism, all songs were recorded live band to analog tape and a backing band comprised of local virtuosos.

Bitter says the EP “is about the tape hiss, human vocal pads taking place over a modern synth, tracking the innate energy of a live band and the imperfections that our perfectly produced music society lacks. Music is a tool for making a human connection and people are hungry for it. A connection that thrives through empathy, vulnerability, authenticity, truth, flaws — and ‘West Side Twang’ is a vision directed towards that.”

West Side Twang is a noteworthy journey of haunting steel guitars, picturesque lyrics, and memorable melodies passionately embraced with authentic heartfelt vocals.

When You Lose

The first track, “When You Lose”, is a dyed-in-the-wool, first-rate traditional country song about the resulting aftermath when you’re tired of not being heard in a relationship. The intro of the song is a silky, nostalgic steel guitar that sets up the sweeping, melancholy soundscape. Kimmi’s enchanting vocals make their quiet entrance soaked in heartache. In the refrain, she quietly reprimands her lover with silky notes of an underlying strength for wanting to listen now that she’s leaving. The classic velvety but somber call-and-response makes you feel like the background vocalists are Kimmi’s support in the confrontation with her lover.   

In the second verse, Kimmi continues the one-sided conversation with her lover, pointing out that she’s not running but she’s tired of fighting to be heard. This leads into the refrain from the first verse with her emotive vocals sliding effortlessly into a lower register. You can’t sense any type of tension building up to the chorus as refrain repeats from the first verse, but there is a pronounced ramp up in the solo melody of the steel guitar that hints that it’s coming. 

In the chorus, you can feel the serene powering up of Kimmi’s vocals as they underscore her frustration with an undeniable ache in every note. It’s here where you truly grasp her heartbreak as the background vocalists serenely reprise the words trying, crying, and slipping away. Heading out of the chorus, you’re transported along the soundscape of a haunting and beautiful steel guitar solo before being gently dropped off at refrain from the first verse. Her robust vocals slide around you like an emotional reinforcement before they head back into another round of the chorus.

From the chorus, the lyrics of the last verse circle back to the first with a surprise twist. In the first verse, she tells her lover she wants to leave but in the last, you realize she has already left. In the end, her lover refused to deal with their issue until it was too late and she left him to wallow in the painful consequence of his actions.

The track ends with you taking a soothing ride along the enchanting background harmonies of the refrain from the first verse. As they gradually wind down, against the backdrop of tinkling piano keys, you can feel the poignant message of the song summed up with the last words, “when you lose”.

“When You Lose” is a dynamic song that combines the ingredients for the classic you-done-me-wrong song but is built upon a clever storyline of consequence that gives it an irresistible appeal.

Simple Love Song

Another stand-out track is the ballad “Simple Love Song” which espouses that less is more when it comes to telling someone you’re falling in love them. The brief intro draws you in with acoustic guitar notes and steel guitar combinations before the softness of Kimmi’s angelic vocals illuminates the first line.

You’re immediately awakened out of what feels like a dreamy ballad when Kimmi hits her high register in the next line and her vocals soar. The emotional tug of the lyrics sweeps you up along with her impassioned vocals as she proclaims to her lover that she’s falling in love. Kimmi then effortlessly brings you back down to earth with the shift to her lower register before launching back into the refrain.

From here, you take a breather on the relaxed soundscape while she returns to her soulful vocals that follow the peak and valley landscape of the melody. Kimmi continues to build up to her lover about being a minimalist with words that other love songs don’t emulate. At the end of the chorus, you reach the mountain top, about to find out how she’s going to tell her lover simply how she feels, but instead, you’re left with a clever cliffhanger.

This doesn’t get resolved until the following verse where she returns to the song’s beginning refrain and you feel an intensity unfolding in her compelling vocals.  A haunting steel guitar solo takes center stage and you ride along its serene path. Kimmi vocally once again enters into the chorus unassumingly, reiterating to her lover that she doesn’t need a wordy love song to declare her love.

This time, she gets you to the cliffhanger but rewards you with a stunning display of colossal high notes that will give you the goosebumps. At the end of the verse, there’s not only power but absolute control, every word dripping in passion, beginning with “simply.” You can hear the beautiful lilt and ache in the words “yeah and for you” in a moving vocal climax. She doesn’t however, bring you down from the mountain top until the very last line of the final refrain, where she ends it in a voice full of tenderness.

This “Simple Love Song” is anything but simplistic with its storyline. This song is a brilliant take on how it doesn’t take an overdone love song to profess your love, only a few meaningful words to accomplish it.

Shine A Light

The next stand out is “Shine A Light” which has a surprisingly upbeat melody for a lyrically dark song about going down the rabbit hole of depression and wanting God’s merciful light to shine on you.  The intro gives the impression of a rogue solo that is out of place. But immediately it reels you in with its fuzzy and bright guitar riffs that end abruptly with a heavy drum beat. It creates a buoyant soundscape contrasted by Kimmi’s lively vocals which kick start the first verse.

However, you begin to sense the lyrics are not taking you down the path into a cheerful sing-a-long or dance party. The lyrics paint a bleak landscape of drowning your feeling of hopelessness in a bottle and praying to God you can change and not fall further into the darkness. Straight into the chorus you feel swept up in the frenetic energy of a revival, fueled by Kimmi’s angelic voice emulating the faith and conviction of a modern Sunday morning hymn.

This spirited ride continues with separate kick-ass guitar and keyboard solos that you’re inspired to get up and dance in the aisle. Suddenly, the brakes are applied to the quasi-jam session and Kimmi’s powerhouse voice pulls you back into the chorus. After that round, the tempo winds down with the melody and you’re sensing the end of the song is near.

But it isn’t until after a couple more rounds of the vigorous chorus that you’re heading down to the finish. Here is where Kimmi showcases her vocal prowess in the last line when she executes an exquisite, prolonged high note of the word “me.” This impressive track wraps up with a few sullen guitar chords topped by the whirl of keyboards.

“Shine A Light” is a song that will inevitably compel you with its infectious chorus and dynamic soundscape so much so that it will play on an endless loop in your head for a long time afterward.

Desert Rose / Ride My Wave

The remaining tracks that complete the EP are the “Desert Rose” and “Ride My Wave” which are memorable gems in their own right.

The track “Desert Rose” is an ode to the virtues of the desert rose flower but beneath the layers is much more. In the first verse, you hear the sadness in her voice as she pulls out of a closet a wilted, dried-up, bouquet of flowers given to her by a former lover. In the chorus, you can feel her strong high register intensifies her emotional pleas for the flowers to live up to their reputation as survivors.

Right before the second verse, you can sense a shift in emotion from pleas in the chorus to praising how well the flower does in even the worst conditions. It is here you sense her trying to persuade the flowers to make a comeback in the hope it will revive her past relationship. But you believe she’s not convinced it will happen and returns to the chorus until the end, pleading for the flowers not to die.

“Desert Rose” is a beautifully written lyrical painting of the desert rose paralleling a relationship.  There is always the hope that our relationships live up to the virtues of a desert rose — that if we take care of them, they will be resilient, survive harsh environments, and most of all, stand the test of time.

The “Ride My Wave” track captures the experience of rewarding your supportive friends who believed in you by letting them “ride the wave” of your success. The track has a warm, inviting melody of steel guitar and drum beats that have you serenely floating along with it.  Kimmi’s soothing vocals throughout the song express authentic gratitude for those who had faith in her.

She punctuates the word ride in the final chorus with a delicate lilt in an elongated note. The beautiful piano and steel guitar solo in the middle of the song repeats at the end carrying you away on a wave of happiness.

“Ride My Wave” is the perfect song for thanking those in your circle for their support and belief in you when no one else did.

Highly Recommended.  Kimmi Bitter powerfully demonstrates throughout this EP that she has a real gift for traditional country music songwriting. You can easily identify the influence of the classic iconic artists she styles her sound around, but at the same time, she puts her own stamp of originality on each song. Coupled with deeply impassioned vocals, Kimmi paints vivid stories of relatable heartbreak, hope, and vulnerability over tightly emotive soundscapes. Kimmi is one to watch with this strong and impressive debut. West Side Twang should be on your essential playlist if you’re looking for country music that speaks to you with a lot of heart and soul.

Credits:

Written and produced by Kimmi Bitter. Engineered and recorded by Mike Butler at Lost Ark Studio in San Diego, California. Mastered by Jamal Ruhe at West West Side Records. Backing Band “The Aire-Jordans” –  Jody Bagley, Cheyne Dolly, Willis Farnsworth, Bob Ryan, Kevin Ryan, and Ben Neal. Cover Photo by Franz Kratchus. Album Artwork by Cat Sackett.

Buy West Side Twang on these platforms: iTunes, Bandcamp, Amazon, and Applemusic.

Stream it on Spotify and Soundcloud.

Follow Kimmi on  Instagram  |  Facebook |  Website