One of KBong’s greatest assets is the natural, uplifting reassurance and comfort of his easy-going presence.
Kevin Bong aka “KBong” is a Hawaiian born and San Diego native, multi-instrumental artist who is well-known for his ‘key’ role in Stick Figure. Kbong’s first ever full solo studio album dropped June 17th, 2014 titled Hopes and Dreams which is now available on iTunes and Amazon. KBong has built up an significant audience through promoting his solo material via social media and even performing as the opening act on several Stick Figure shows around the nation.
KBong has shared the stage with bands such as Stick Figure, Passafire, Tribal Seeds, The Steppas, HIRIE, Ezzrah, Mike Pinto, John Brown’s Body, New Kingston, Micah Brown, HI Roots and more!
KBong mixes up a great sound made up of tasty musical ingredients that include ska, reggae, cool California surf vibes and catchy acoustic guitar riffs. Once you hear his style you will be hooked because it’s so fresh and pleasing to the ears. Put Jason Mraz, Jack Johnson and Bob Marley into a melting pot, if you could, and out comes KBong!
I wanted and planned to listen to Hopes and Dreams several times over so I could be completely objective and have a well thought out review. The problem is, I instantly liked and loved all the songs from the very first listen! Popular music is all about the lyrics, melody, hook, beat and feel – a song can be good if either of these is great, but a song is truly amazing if all of these are great.
On Hopes and Dreams, KBong gets the full-house formula right, on just about all of the 14 songs. This is mainly due to the fact that KBong stays true to the music. No commercial selling out, no super glossy production, no outside pressures, just good clean, fell-good, reggae-based music.
No song by song breakdown is necessary here, on first listen they are all precious gems. From the opening heavenly voices, brass and chords of “Hold On”, through the wonderful “Livin Easy” (featuring Stick Figure), “Rising”, “Into The Light” and “We Had”, all the way to the epic finish in “Living In A Dream”, you are on a KBong emotional-ride of immense proportions.
KBong’s crystal-clear voice is able to employ low, dusky warmth one minute and octave-stretching power the next. This perfectly suits his unique and untypical style to a tee, as evidenced on “Fall In Love”, “Groove” (featuring Alific), “In Session” or the genuinely touching “Love Story.”
One of KBong’s greatest assets is the natural, uplifting reassurance and comfort of his easy-going presence. Hopes and Dreams contains many songs that bring that quality to the forefront.
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