The Year of Mr. Kitty

Really there has only been one album that I have kept in my listening rotation all year: Mr. Kitty’s synthpoppy goodness that is A.I.

A.I. starts with a synthesized groaning before crescendoing into a dreamy overture that belies the emotional messiness of the following 50 minutes. It ends abruptly and begins the staccato dancy keyboards that begin “Undo.” And here we start the journey. “I will undo these memories I’ve kept of you,” he sings in the chorus.

In the next song “Habits,” he pleads to “don’t break him,” and to “let your habits control you.”

This is one of the very few albums that has had me both bouncing around dancing while simultaneously crying. It’s hard to keep still with the beats bouncing through my head. But you can hear someone fighting through his own depression which is just what I’ve been caught up in this year. It’s heart breaking to listen to it as I live it.

Take “Dream Diver” which starts off with an homage to house music. He starts the chorus stating “I’m always falling apart, always losing my mind/Losing everything when I think of you.” He ends with “I gave you everything, now I can never trust you.”

This was my soundtrack for 2017, the good and the very very bad. At least I didn’t have to feel alone in my pity.