Review / 200 Words Or Less
Kississippi
Sunset Blush

Alcopop! Records (2018) Kristen Swanson

Kississippi – Sunset Blush cover artwork
Kississippi – Sunset Blush — Alcopop! Records, 2018

Philly duo Kississippi released their anticipated debut album Sunset Blush and unlike some records, it lived up to the hype. The album starts off with the song “Once Good,” perfectly blending elements of indie and folk with Zoë Reynolds’ voice beautifully texturing the track. “Cut Yr Teeth” is a sonically dreamy track complete with stellar lyrics. Reynolds is mesmerizing as the vocalist of the band—despite having a distinct sound, it’s hard to pinpoint her tone which adds another depth of dimension to the album as a whole. 

“Easier to Love” competes with the top mainstream pop tracks, but lyrically and vocally stand stronger than standard radio music while remaining undeniably catchy. “Mirror Kisser” delivers electropop vibes while “Shamer” perfects the art of simplicity. Similarly with “Who Said It First,” the tempo of the song showcases Reynolds' range along with the music as a whole. Kississippi explores different music styles not just within the album’s entirety, but sometimes within the same track—it’s fresh and inspiring. For a debut album, the band has managed to accomplish and pull off what some seasoned bands are still striving to achieve. 

Kississippi – Sunset Blush cover artwork
Kississippi – Sunset Blush — Alcopop! Records, 2018

Related news

Kississippi and Alex G members present Puppy Angst

Posted in Records on September 4, 2022

News outta Kississippi

Posted in Bands on October 8, 2020

Recently-posted album reviews

Cancer Bats

Give Me Dirt
Marshall Amplification PLC (2026)

ALBUM HIGHLIGHTS – “Bright Eyes of Gold”, “Give Me Dirt”, “Long Tooth”, “Fools Like You” Almost exactly two years ago, on 8th August 2024, Cancer Bats played Conne Island in Leipzig – a choice they would live to regret. Unbeknownst to them at the time, the centre had slowly become renowned for its radical politics and, more recently, the ban … Read more

Tyler Sonnichsen

The Dead Milkmen
J-Card Press (2026)

When I saw The Dead Milkmen at Toronto’s Diamond Club back in the late 1980s, the floor was a volatile, beautiful mess of colliding subcultures. It was like different species of house flies bumping into one another, wondering what the hell you were doing in the mason jar. You had suburban high school pocket-pen-protector pencil-neck nubile nerds, college radio snobs … Read more

Opus Kink

The Sweet Goodbye
So Recordings (2026)

ALBUM HIGHLIGHTS – “Come Over, Do Me Wrong”, “The Sweet Goodbye”, “I Have to Shine My Sunday Shoes”, “Crucify!” Opus Kink sound like nobody else. To call them “jazz punk” is to massively oversimplify it. In fact, there’s not much traditionally “punk” about them. If anything, it’s “noise rock”, but with traces of almost every other genre you could name. … Read more