Every once and a while I check the Streetlight Manifesto website to see if there is any news about a new release. This time I found that Thomas Kalnoky, their lead singer/songwriter (here known as “Toh Kay”), released an album of Streetlight/Catch 22 songs performed solo entitled “Streelight Lullabies”. The guitar work on all the tracks is very impressive. He doesn’t just play the chords, he creates and compensates for melodies from the original arrangements. His vocals aren’t great comparatively; he doesn’t do much with them and it’s obvious he shines when he has the ability to use that all too familiar Kalnoky rasp. But the best part is that he has the balls to not just make ska-punk folk songs out of these high energy songs. Instead he opts to translate them into ballads in the folk/jazz paradigm. “Lullabies” is a fitting title. This is definitely a fun listen for any Streetlight fan even if it is lacking as a stand-alone album.
Here’s the original for any of you who haven’t heard it and are curious to hear the glory that is one of the most technically impressive bands out there (or for those who just love to hear it again, like me):
“Would You Be Impressed?”
