Stream: Ken Sharp, ‘Miniatures’

Kevin Bronson on April 3rd, 2021

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Let’s listen to a little Ken Sharp, shall we?

No, really, a little Ken Sharp.

The power-pop maestro’s new album is titled “Miniatures,” and what they say about good things in small packages fully applies here. The album is comprised of 32 mostly baroque pop gems — each less than 2 minutes. To be exact, the most drawn-out composition is 1:57, the briefest (the title track) a mere 37 seconds.

Suffice to say nothing wears out its welcome here; the album, his sixth, takes refreshing, quick drinks from the mythical Fountain of Melody that Sharp seems to have located some years ago. Conceptually, “Miniatures” calls into question what a song actually needs to be. Punk bands have a long history of short-form rage. Sharp, though, crams a lot of sophistication in under 2 minutes.

His pandemic project was an almost-all-DIY effort (Fernando Perdomo on bass/percussion and Kaitlin Wolfberg on violin/viola make cameos).

Should we crack wise about not selling it short? Oh, and the first 100 CD orders come with four trading cards.

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