Song of the Day: Kithkin - Fallen Giants

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Morning Show with John Richards, is “Fallen Giants” a 2013 self-released single by Seattle band Kithkin.

Kithkin - Fallen Giants (MP3)

Unlike the rest of the bands featured on this podcast, Kithkin don't even refer to themselves as a band: they're a "Cascadian youth tribe". Fantastical motifs figure heavily into the band's image - their Facebook lists the band members as Spirit Treader, Tin Woodsman, Bigfoot Wallace, and Shredder - their music contains more hallmarks of manic, guitar-driven indie rock than J. R. R. Tolkien. The quartet's percussion heavy live show earned them a good reputation around the Pacific Northwest, and they've since expanded their touring routes empire with shows on the rest of the West Coast (including a rainy show at Hood to Hood 2013.) Featuring mountainous percussion that recalls a more muscular Ravenna Woods, "Fallen Giants" resonates with the kind of epic presence that's usually only found during the closing titles of Peter Jackson films. As a piercing organ shines through the thick, pounding wave of drums, the song tells a majestic and sometimes odd ("I was a zebra with bleached blonde hair") tale of starting anew. As the chorus descends into a "Secret Meeting"-style battle cry of "I don't want to die for this!", the song reaches a fever pitch so grandiose that it may very well validate their claims of mystical powers.

Kithkin play their next show ("a very special Twin Peaks themed set") at the Crocodile on May 21st as part of the Scrapper premiere afterparty. Get info and tickets for that show here and keep track of the band's adventures in and out of Cascadia over at their website and Facebook. Watch the video for "Fallen Giants", which was lit entirely by handheld flashlights, here: