Opening with a nervous sounding Wurlitzer refrain and a guitar melody that carefully strolls through its duration, Something In Common is the new single from Kendra Morris. Originally appearing on BlackPlastic all the way back in 2014, Morris’ latest release comes from the forthcoming ‘board game concept album’, Next, the song represents its most introspect moment.
Initially constructed with little more than those two elements, guitar and Wurlitzer, together with Morris’ brutally emotive vocal, the song was written in an afternoon on guitar and using a looped sample. Later, when in the Portage Lounge studio in Loveland, Ohio, Morris’ full band helped lay down what you hear here. The Wurlitzer was laid down in full by Monti Miramonti, classic nylon string guitar by Supremo ‘Premo’ Massiv, and they are pulled together with a looped drum machine. Despite its simplicity, these four elements come together to create a song with significant depth.
The depth in the song’s sound really stems from its message, which deals with the nature of humanity, our strength of emotion, and predisposition for conflict. The result feels weary, tired and slightly fearful. Explaining the song’s inspiration, Kendra says:
‘There is all this conflict in our humanity, both internal and external. We kill each other over our differences, or we destroy ourselves emotionally. We spend so much time fighting these battles, but in the end…. There are no winners or losers. In the end, we’re all the same: dust in the ground.’
Check out the lyric video for Something In Common below, and look out for the album, Next, which ties characters, including Kendra’s band, to a vintage board game ‘in the spirit of Milton Bradley’s finest retro dice-rolling moments’. Stepping through the block-to-block journey of the game, Next deals in a ‘mosaic of corals, creams, and pale lilac tiles’, with even that description evoking a surprisingly tactile feeling. The album is due out via Karma Chief on 19 September 2025.
