Too often, a debut EP is little more than a promotional device, incapable of standing alone as a fully realized piece of art. Not so with The Kingdoms bizarre and wondrous Unitas, a surreal paean to the legendary Baltimore Colts quarterback. The conceptually complete and enthusiastically performed song-cycle finds singer/mastermind Charles Westmoreland re-imagining Johnny Unitas as a mythical deity hurling the sun across the sky to the locomotive horse with dove wings, and goes on to tell of a hero in love and covered in horses blood who plays a cosmic game of football in the heavens. In using a familiar sports hero as the metaphorical point of departure, Westmoreland offers a fitting example of The Kingdoms aesthetic intent: the transformation of the easily recognizable trappings of contemporary indie rock (melodic guitar jangle, low-budget keyboards) into something otherworldly and divine.

Though Westmorelands distinctive poetics and metaphysics alone would make Unitas a compelling debut, the skyscraping vocals and keen melodies transform these songs from bedroom-born 4-track charm into basement party anthems, brimming with teenage abandon. From the complex, intersecting vocal lines of I Am Constellation to the soaring choruses of Arcadia of My Youth, the EP displays a knowing mastery of Zombies-esque pop, as played by a generation that embraced Guided By Voices, not U2, as rocknroll saviors. Though Portland has sprouted many promising pop savants of late, The Kingdoms meticulous song-craft, coupled with their feverish, ebullient presentation, unite the visceral and the cerebral into an eminently enjoyable and erudite whole. Though their highly anticipated full-length wont see release until early 2006, Unitas is more than just a promising debutit is a succinct and highly original work of art, announcing the arrival of a thoroughly unique new talent.......[Read Less]