Release Date: (September 28, 2010)
Label: CLAIRECORDS
Producer:

December  Hotel 
Overall Rating:  ++++  

(Searching For The light)

Having been a pretty big fan of Waiting, I was psyched to get a hold of Isolation. It took me a few listens to really get into Waiting - it was only by virtue of being hooked on the track "Lay Down Your Burden" that I gave the album the requisite time to really warm up to it. It only took me two plays through to go headfirst into Isolation.

Isolation preserves the characteristic Brother Kite melodious quality while changing things up a bit. As an album it's more dynamic than Waiting, interspersing energetic peaks with slower, quieter valleys. The high point in energy is "The Scene is Changing", which is guaranteed to hook at least a few people onto this band - catchiness bordering on radio material, in my opinion. "Martyr for the Cause" is one of the best album intros I've heard in a while - it takes a long time to crescendo and by the time it's over, your head is bobbing and your toes are tapping.

"Isolation" keeps the subtle peppiness going with a steady tambourine that strings the slower first section of the song into one of the aforementioned peaks. The song then cuts out for a bit, before the album launches into "Scene". By the time you're three tracks in you're primed for the rest of the songs, which are all quality. The closing song "The Pasture" is probably the weakest on the album from my perspective, as it's just kind of flat, but it still brings the whole package to a tidy close, drawing the energy down and fading out with a pretty, echoic guitar part.

This album does not disappoint. Everyone's going to have their own opinion, but I really can't imagine anybody who liked Waiting changing their tune on The Brother Kite.
 

~ D. Seward