Kindred the Family Soul's In This Life Together: Better Than Being Boring All Alone

Kindred The Family Soul were quickly dubbed the Ashford and Simpson of neo-soul when they emerged in 2002 with their debut, Surrender To Love. And the husband-and-wife duo of Fatin and Aja got a quarter-mil to do just that by appealing not to the lovestruck or the jilted but to the everyman who tries to balance both the beautiful struggles of love and life. And now they're back to reassure that the surrender was worth it with 2005's In This Life Together.

When Kindred debuted, neo-soul's flame was slowly flickering out but now that it has been completely extinguished, the genre has had a rebirth of sorts as "new-soul". Basically a new label for the same sound; a sound Kindred firmly adheres to. Their album is essentially rooted in mimicked 70s soul modernized with the latest drum-programming and synthesizers their budget could afford. The tempo stays stuck on mid- without much variation in speed nor chord progression. And the lyrics all seem to be culled from the same place emotionally.

That last fact had the potential to create a brilliant album considering it is an album full of love songs but not love songs in the traditional sense. Kindred aren't singing about falling in love or being head over heels in it nor are they singing about falling out of love and the bitter aftereffects. Rather, they sing about the love between two people in a devoted relationship. A love for each other (85% of the album), for their children (Bedtime Story), and for self (My Time). A love that struggles yet endures. But although such a perspective is refreshing, Kindred seem content with dragging it down the middle of the road and leaving it mired in blandness.

But all of this is not to say the album doesn't have its share of highlights; there are quite a few moments that showcase the results of Kindred actually putting some thought and creativity into their catalog.

Lead single, Where Would I Be (The Question), is a smooth Quiet Storm number that has the duo pondering where there lives would've led them had they not met over a sleek George Benson sample. Woman First is Aja's heartfelt expression of thanks to her husband for his reassurance of love and desire when the pressures of daily life get too much to bear. And Let It All Go is a declaration of support to each other when life's pressures start to weigh heavy on the shoulders.

As of Yet and My Time are other moments of sleek soul that double as inspiring anthems to love your support system as well as loving yourself. But Kindred also manages to kick a little octane into the tempo and pep up their step, preventing the album from sounding like one bland and overlong recording. Turn It Up is their take on a club banger and although its about as clichéd and generic as club-constructed, up-tempo new-soul can get, it will still get the job done when you feel the need to shake your ***. And Sneak A Freek is a slice of dirty funk-soul at its finest; rubberband bassline, handclaps, and one sexy horn section making the formidable task of catching up on nookie in-between dirty diapers, dishes, and kids one worth doing your damnedest to accomplish.

On the flipside, Kindred can do bland, faceless new-soul with the most forgettable of them. Tunes like Thru Love, Do You Remember, and the title track aren't bad songs per se. They just don't have one iota of creativity or personality that makes them stand out among the bloated track listing.

Truthfully, there isn't one bad song on the record (even their weak tribute to "What's Going On" titled as Message To Marvin benefits from the soul-sampling hip-hop backbeat that would make Kanye proud). The problem is their inspiration. The album's central theme is the love found in a committed relationship. And considering Kindred are an actual working-class African-American family, they don't have to dig too deep to find inspiration. If they did, it'd be to their benefit since it would help them find more creative and evocative ways to express themselves. But since they're content with barely scratching the surface, we're treated to rudimentary and textbook tales of l-o-v-e.

And that is what ultimately makes Kindred's sophomore release akin to white bread and vanilla ice cream. Not necessarily bad but not necessarily good. Just kinda plain. And being kinda plain never hurt anybody. It may not entertain but it still never hurt.