Highnoon is the recording project of Philadelphia-based Kennedy Freeman. Semi Sweet is their debut release, a record that combines heart-on-sleeve bedroom pop with the languidly simple guitar pop of Alex G.
The first proper track ‘lens’ displays this fusion from the beginning. It bobs and bounces its way through its three-minute run-time while Freeman’s vocals anchor it in the personal, delivering reflective lines that belie the song’s easy instrumentation. “Build you up to be much better than you are,” she sings. “Guess I have myself to blame.”
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The sluggish swing of ‘Not The One’ offers a kind of ironic romantic feel, while ‘Tongue In Cheek’ picks up the tempo in a moody and cutting style. The tracks are indicative of the album’s tone, positioned at that time of life where nothing is decided and everything is lost. When something ends, a multitude of new beginnings are possible, though it is just as easy to be paralysed by the developments.
Perhaps the emotional centre-point of Semi Sweet, ‘Middle Distance Runner’ is a track Freeman recorded at home on her computer (the other songs were reworked from demos and recorded with the help of Justin Roth of Soft Idiot). Like most of the tracks on the album it is set in that uncertain period of young adulthood, something that Freeman is constantly trying to figure out though her music.
“A lot of these songs though were emotional dump-sites even though it may not sound too emo at face value,” Freeman explains in an interview with Gold Flake Paint. “I would have a few things I was messing around with on the guitar and I would just keep playing until whatever was bothering me kinda spilled out.”
There’s a composed intensity about ‘Upswing’, Freeman’s vocals unfurling alongside guitar lines and bursts of percussion. “Caught myself in wishful thinking” she sings “is it you or what I’m drinking?” As its title suggests, ‘Mello Yello’ sounds as slow and lazy as a summer afternoon, while finale ‘Bloom’ is an acoustic track that takes he blueprints of the previous songs and strips it right back, just acoustic guitar and Freeman’s voice, a fitting finale for a very promising album.
I’ll watch for the flowers bloom in spring
I’m waiting for something that I can’t see
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Semi Sweet is out now and you can get it on a name-your-price basis from the Highnoon Bandcamp page.
