Strange Free World
Released
With the Kitchens gaining a major label deal in the US and the sympathetic production work of Hugh Jones, the brisk but still remarkable feeling of the trio’s debut turned into a huge, beautiful sound that well earned the iconic cover art drawn from Hokusai. Patrick Fitzgerald added to his body of lyrics about gay life with “Gorgeous Love” and more besides, while a rerecording of an earlier single, “Quick as Rainbows,” and “Drive That Fast” were powerful, enveloping songs — without the band really being stereotypically shoegaze, the affinities were clearly there.