2 out of 5

Label: KGLW

Produced by: Stu Mackenzie

If you know what you’re getting here, it’s more enjoyable, and it’s also just appreciated that KGLW puts out all this material for us, but… this is like all the jam band influence that’s supporting the band’s wild experimentation brought to the fore. That is: if, like me, you assumed KG was just a Grateful Dead / Phish something or other based on their name and the vibe of the artwork on their albums, then… this is pretty much exactly what that assumed band would sound like. Add a fairly fuzzy recording and mid-tempo noodling for the A- and B-sides – 15-minutes, one song each – and tepid, circular, hippy lyrics, and, again: pretty much exactly in line with that assumption.

But of course, KGLW isn’t that band, or hasn’t been 99% of the time, instead mashing that influence with a whole bunch of others for some a long, long string of surprising explorations of rock and funk and folk and etc.

Laminated Denim is comprised of two tracks that were intended to be played during intermissions of live shows that were canceled due to COVID. I’m not really sure I get the logistics of that (not played live, I guess, if they were for intermissions?), but extrapolate something from that intention, plus my highlighting the jammy nature, and that they’re both 10+ minute songs, and I think you also get the gist.

I wouldn’t say either one of these is bad, they’re just very easy to dismiss. A-side’s ‘The Land Before Timeland’ especially so, never peaking above a mumbled, sing-song level and gentle Jethro Tull flutes and vaguely Grateful Dead-y blissed out half jams. The B-side has a bit more of a sense of build-up and momentum, but the requirement to get to the 15-minute mark ultimately ends up making it a stretch.

During intermission? Heck, sure, that’s a fun idea. As a standalone listen, it’s fairly dull, though, and not likely to get much replay from me.