Before we even start listening to the new album from London's Klak Tik the press blurb retells a familiar tale that could apply to goodness knows how many bands. The album was recorded in a chapel in Wales (half of Wales' income must be from bands retreating there to record), the reason being that they wanted to escape the trapping of their cosmopolitan city. It sounds much like they're aiming for a more natural or organic sound, one inspired by bands like, say, Bon Iver, Arcade Fire, Bright Eyes, Sufjan Stevens or Grizzly Bear. These names are duly listed.
So another bunch of London folk-rockers heading to the countryside to make the kind of album that half the country seems to be (or wants to be) making. "A job that I hate, work every day..." is the all too common tale of finding your freedom in "the rivers and the birds" that they sing about on 'Reborn'. Yeah, there's an awful lot of this stuff around, so much so that it's difficult to look at objectively any more, but we'll try and reset our brains, as the second album from Klak Tik deserves to be treated with respect and not dismissed as copycat, bandwagon-jumping. And if we do that then we actually find a collection of very good songs that are carefully constructed.
Their voices work well together, the additions of brass and a playfulness in the way instruments are used and experimented with is easily visible on 'St. Barnaby's Lurch' which contains some nice tempo changes and layers of ideas. 'Kierkegaard' duly follows suit with unusual time changes and instrumentation, there are some nice chamber-pop moments spattered throughout. 'Curved Mirror' and the mysterious 'Lonhengrin' are both deserving of mentions. 'The Servants' sounds painstakingly put together and it is a very good album (besides a couple of so-so tracks) but with so many similarly-minded bands out there you can't help but feel that the impact is lost somewhat and the result a little cliched, and that's a big shame for such a talented band.
Klak Tik's website
Stream or buy the album
For more news, reviews and downloads follow The Sound Of Confusion on Facebook or Twitter
contact@thesoundofconfusion.co.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment