If we are to take its title in a literal sense, before “Puzzle” even begins we envision ourselves sat at a table with a scattered collection of puzzle pieces. Some are right side up, others colors entirely escape us, replaced by the cheap cardboard our mural was printed on.
As the gauzy guitar joins us, sounding as though it’s coming directly to us from the P.A in an old lounge bar with a wispy full-bodied tone that gently coats each note as they’re embraced by mellow chord strums, we flip the pieces and the picture before us begins to make some sort of tangible sense.
What could have been the beginning of an elegant r&b track is met instead by an almost janky prose that is half-spoken and half-sung by New York’s Kenny Fame. It’s gripping, both because of the idiosyncratic tone and character that is wholly unique to Kenny, but also because of the organic nature he’s chosen to explore the ideas in Puzzle. It’s melodic but without being in any way predictable or assuming. It doesn’t ask for sympathy, but if you’re willing to immerse yourself within its story, it does embrace you with its honesty and authenticity, offering a unique perspective on childhood and how our perception of the world changes as we age due to our formative experiences and the complicated way they have molded our view of life around us.
Right off the top of the track Fame recounts an experience that is massively poignant and delivered with such casual simplicity as he says, “all the streets were paved with broken glass. I walked barefoot and never asked why the streets were paved with broken glass”.
We’re immediately transposed by the highlighting of how something as innocuous as a shoeless child walking through the street can provoke so much emotion and draw attention to how oblivious we can all be to the warning signs of a gentle collapse of society that are often littered throughout our own neighborhoods and homes.
We’re caught by compassion for young Kenny who continues to make astute observations about his life in the verses that follow, drawing connections to how his childhood circumstances impacted his ability to make friends or be welcomed by those around him, how these experiences hardened him even then when he was too young to understand the gravity of the hand he was dealt.
The production maintains a mournful melancholy for much of the song until we get to the chorus where the energy is driven up by the arrival of a steady drum rhythm and moving bass line as Fame leans deeper into himself and with a heavier rap flow, almost to enhance the realization that remembering these experiences has brought to him he accepts, “piece by piece, bit by bit, I was that puzzle piece that never fit.”
It’s almost frustrating how catchy the final outro verse is, bubbling along with the bass and drums, Fame ends the track with one final revelation, “At least when all is said and done I can always say that I tried.”
If we’re to take away one message from Kenny Fame’s “Puzzle” it’s that it’s not unusual for any of us to feel as though we don’t quite feel like we belong where we are until we’ve taken the time to understand how we came to feel that way; What we do with that knowledge and understanding from that point is up to us and in a sense, deciding to keep trying and move forward in spite of our experiences is the only way we’ll complete the full picture of the puzzles of our own lives.
Learn more and keep up with Kenny Fame on his social media channels.
Crooked Forest 