A New Kind of House

iTunes Review

The Portland, Oregon-based Typhoon makes a grand, emotionally charged statement on A New Kind of House. The band includes 12 members here (membership fluctuates by recording) and features dual drummers, strings, horns, piano, guitars, and bass. At the eye of the typhoon is songwriter and lead singer Kyle Morton, a captivating vocalist and lyricist. How this large band manages to find room for all this sound without stepping on each other’s notes is impressive all by itself. Each note becomes a part of a beautiful and expansive mosaic, and these five songs flow smoothly and naturally. The invigorating opener “The Honest Truth” brims with ecstatic horns and shimmering cymbals and erupts into a full-throated chorus; “Summer Home” is a dynamic and powerful piece of storytelling; and the brief “Kitchen Tile,” with its lightly strummed acoustic guitar and group sing-along, is a perfect bridge between the nearly eight-minute epic “Claws, Pt. 1” and the moving piano-ballad closer “Firewood.” Passionate and haunting, this is a knockout EP from a band that deserves a wide audience.