Golden Shoulders KIN (Welcome Home Records)

“Golden Shoulders has been flying just under the radar for a while, and now that Brendan Benson seems preoccupied with the underwhelming supergroup The Raconteurs, maybe it’s time for Adam Kline to step up as the new crown prince of obscenely catchy and obscure indie power-pop folk music. His flippant, youthful voice and casual style of recruiting whoever’s available at the time to fill his transient backing band makes him the perfect candidate to crank out quick and easy songs to please the ears of music fans everywhere for a long time to come. All five tracks on this EP are submitted as evidence to bolster his candidacy. He’s not the deepest guy in the book, and he’s not exactly diverse, but he gets the job done, he goes over smooth, and he’ll make you feel better. His first order of business is hopefully to follow up KIN with a full-length album featuring 10 or more songs as good as or better than the toitally smashing opening track here, “Friends and Family.” Join the campaign, before Jack White snags him for his own ballot.

John Ferrer, Skyscraper Magazine Issue #22 (Summer 2006)