After picking up the guitar at an early age and learning how to play a host of other instruments by ear, Troy Kingi formed a band called Toll House with three high school friends. He has formed several more since, including Mongolian Deathworm, Troy Kingi and the Tigers and Full Moon Street, and further developed his skills at MAINZ. He spent the last year working on ‘Guitar Party At Uncle’s Bach’ which has been mostly recorded and mixed at The Sitting Room with Lyttelton Records’ Ben Edwards, plus a few further sessions at The Lab and Kog Studios. The resulting 22-song double album’s production style is raw and unbridled, giving off a personal and honest impression. There’s no fear of space or of leaving elements exposed. At its core this album is a balancing act between soul and rock ideas with occasional tangents into blues and even indie rock. This is most evident in Leg Space, split between funky soul sections with smooth harmonies and abrasive sections of raw, distorted material. Simple but effective instrumentation and arrangements throughout allow for a very natural movement between more traditionally soulful tracks like Can’t Stop Feeling Strange, Apron Strings and Moko and gritty, heavier, riff-driven rock tracks such as Picking Up Speed, Man from Mercury, Oil Spill and Clear Sea Air. Its weakness lies in the indulgent length, inevitably leaving the impression of a lack of discipline to refine it to a best-of core. Dynamic and explorative, this album is unconventional in its inter-stylistic approach, and yet due to the nature of the compositions themselves, somehow familiar.