Kid Dakota's frontman, Darren Jackson, presents few reasons to be cheerful on
The West Is the Future, a disc that sounds artful and expressive but often feels plain miserable. Take "Pine Ridge," where Jackson sings of the plight of many Native Americans ("With their government check they go buy liquor") as his coconspirators -- drummer Christopher McGuire, guitarist Erik Appelwick, and bassist Zak Sally (of
Low fame) -- kick up a dusty fuss. Looking inward on the roaring "10,000 Lakes," the South Dakota-bred, Minnesota-based Jackson portrays a man in seek of sobriety, and if the song bows to some sense of melody, too few of the tunes on
Kid Dakota's second offering have allure. The redundant, atonal "Starlight Motel" is damn near intolerable and the ten-minute-long "2001" sounds like a Westernized version of
Radiohead at its least likable. Less aimless is "Homesteader" -- which swirls with passion and crackles with cricket sounds -- but the indisputable peak of
The West Is the Future is its epic, punchy set opener, "Pilgrim," which leaves every song that comes after it well in the dust. ~ John D. Luerssen