A strange process occurs throughout the final gig of The Milk Carton Kids’ first European tour. When they first pop up on stage, dressed in similar suits and with a guitar each they seem to be very much two of a kind, like two identical humans brought together by inevitability. But as the gig progresses it becomes clear that these similarities are almost exclusively musical and that the personalities of these two men are delightfully at odds.
Joey stands on the left; slim, long dark hair, glasses, bow-tie, chunky acoustic guitar, quite still and with a cripplingly funny deadpan wit. Kenneth by comparison is sturdily built, with tossed fair hair, unbuttoned shirt, smaller manageable guitar on which to perform some unbelievable musical breaks and acts like something of a straight man to the observations of his partner. When the sound of yelling bleeds into the venue Joey looks off and says “the human brain has an amazing capacity to ignore many things to focus on just one, our brains do not have that ability” to which Kenneth chimes in “that’s funny cos I just ignored the hell out of your introduction,” and they go straight into the next song.
When those two guitars, acoustically miked, start playing, the comedic tension instantly vanishes and the two guys really do start to sing from the same hymn sheet. Their slower songs are beautifully melodic, such as Michigan which has that wonderful wandering tone, like taking a great journey, so that when the final chord sounds it feels like coming home. But the more upbeat songs are more engaging and impressive as Kenneth’s guitar bursts out notes like a semi-automatic machine gun. These are songs such as Honey, Honey and Girls Gather Round written by Kenneth about “his desire for girls to gather round him,” as Joey tells us. “Real deep interpretation of the song there, Joe” “I’m only going by the text”
The evening is opened by native Mossy Nolan who gives those of us gathered in Whelan’s an example of the virtuoso playing that will be a theme for the rest of the night. He plays some sweet songs on his bazouki and mandolin but his instrumental pieces, particularly the song Two Flats, One Pump played with a guitarist in accompaniment, are really invigorating bits of music that give a European inflection compared with the American sounds that are to follow.
The sounds of the Milk Carton Kids are decidedly American. Paul Simon’s influence is clear, especially in Kenneth’s voice when he sings alone, prompting Simon & Garfunkel comparisons once Joey joins back in. “We sometimes consider coming back for the encore with wigs and polo necks,” Joey says shortly before the two launch into New York. This is not an unkind comparison by any means and with their collaboration being only two years old, launching after Joey heard Kenneth playing the song Memoirs of an Owned Dog, their musical growth since that song is obvious and is sure to continue.