Simple Kid, real-name Ciaran McFeely, is an Irish born solo musical artist known for his catchy melodies, "Lo fi" country / hip hop / 60s pop crossover sound and his deliberately "simple" approach to making and performing his music. Simple Kid's approach to recording is different than others in that raw recordings are made to an 8-track cassette player - giving the music a notably vintage feel - then fed into his computer where he applies more modern techniques to create the finished song. All tracks on his albums "1" and "2" are mixed and mastered from his own recordings on his own equipment by himself. His style of remixing and sampling has been compared to Fatboy Slim's, although Simple Kid uses his own recordings as sources. More often his sound is compared to the similarly eclectic and deliberately ramshackle Beck, whom he resembles physically as well. Simple Kid's sound is difficult to place, but influences include folk, country (he prominently features banjos and slide guitar in his work), glam rock (particularly T. Rex) and late 60s big pop arrangements of records like The Beatles's 'White Album'. Before becoming Simple Kid, Ciaran was a member of The Young Offenders. Forming when he was 17, the band was composed of friends made while growing up in Cork Ireland. The group attempted to release an album in America but was met with failure and broke up. Although having spent considerable time in America before becoming Simple Kid, his popularity today is mostly limited to the United Kingdom and Ireland. His touring is based out of London and he has previously played support for R.E.M., Richard Ashcroft, Travis, The Thrills, Ocean Colour Scene and Suede among others. His second effort, titled 2, was released by Country Gentleman Recordings in October 2006 in the UK and YepRoc Records in August 2007 in the US.
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