Both Kinetica and Fakuta have very different ways of approaching their music. Their vocal range is similar, but while Fakuta plays some superbly sugary pop, Kinetica is known for taking her music through a more jazz/downtempo route. Recently, they combined their talents to compose the straight-up trip-hop “1620,” off Kinetica’s sophomore record, Disco II.
If you listen to Kinetica’s album as a whole, “1620” stands out as one of the harder-edged tracks, with influences from late ’90s greats like Tricky and Massive Attack. The song draws you in from the get-go with an introduction full of brain-melting breakbeats and a smooth, low-frequency synth line that steers the track toward the hip-hop side of the genre. This creates a contrast with both Kinetica and Fakuta’s voices, which are beautiful and almost ethereal in the context of the song, where they sing about two lovers on different paths.
What’s interesting about “1620” is that, as the lyrics get more urgent, Kinetica fades out an overpowering bass line to emphasize both their voices and a second synth line that becomes distorted by the end, almost as if the record were scratched. “1620” is an artfully done song from the duo. I hope we hear more from the two of them together down the line.
