Is it just me…or are I Am Kloot really rather wonderful?
A few years ago, when my interest in music was completely rekindled, I Am Kloot was one of my great discoveries.
Grown up, intelligent, mellow, melodic stuff that was easy on the ear but never boring. Utterly lovely. And, in Titanic and Dark Star two absolutely classic signature songs.
I think I must have read about them in Uncut, or heard a track on their covermount CD, and then downloaded everything they’d done on Audiogalaxy. I have no qualms about this, though because I then went on to buy their album, Natural History, not only for myself, for half a dozen times for Xmas presents. I gave it to people who hadn’t bought any new music for a while…and it was generally much loved.
Anyway, I sort of liked their follow up, I Am Kloot, but it felt a bit too much of the same. Their latest, Gods and Monsters, arrived this week, and I’m utterly in love with it.
They’ve cranked things up just that little bit - a bit more dischord, a little less obviously melodic, just enough to make you listen up, but not so much that they lose their charm.
You don’t want them to get stuck in the same groove - but at the same time, I don’t think the world is ready for the I Am Kloot freeform jazz album, yet..
The funny thing is, the albums had pretty average reviews everywhere. A pretty much uniform three stars. In a way, I can understand this - if you’re a weary music hack ploughing your way through this months pile of hasbeens and wannabees this isn’t going to make your hair stand on end. It’s not genre-defining. They’re unlikely to appear on the cover of Dazed and Confused any time soon. But, it’s a very fine album, and worthy of your time.
A music journo I know told me that despite the fact he can get any cd he wants for free, there is some music he buys as an act of public service - because he feels the artists need the support. I suppose this is how I feel about I Am Kloot. I want there to be bands like this, producing music like this. Frankly, I’ll end up listening to this album about a hundred times more than I’ll listened to The Bravery or Arcade Fire.