| It starts with lazy guitar strumming. Throw in technology-induced melodies and breathy Australian Mark Mitchell's voice and you have Clue to Kalo's second album, One Way, It's Every Way. From Adelaide, Australia, Clue to Kalo represents a different music genre all together while resembling sounds that already have hit it big - emo, classic folk and lo-fi. Although much of the music was created via computer, making it difficult to actually call Clue to Kalo a real band, the sound is unique and intricately instrumented. The entire album has a way of seeming continuous without every song sounding like too much of the same pop-electronica-folk. Faint piano successions, gliding guitar streams, soft drum beats and the occasional random noise - like the kazoo sound at the beginning of “Come to Mean a Natural Law” - intertwine to create a unique sound for each track. The start of the album is best described as trippy on all accounts. The music is fabulously synthetic in its technology-based construction yet so real in its ability to give the listener an avid look into human existence. The melodies become more distinct and, in turn, powerful as the record wears on. Almost every track ends with a long score of tautology - surging techno rhythms, harmonic background singing and gentle piano or horn playing - to give the listener time to get lost in his or her thoughts. The lyrics, which can be best understood after reading the insert as opposed to trying to decipher Mitchell's hazy, whispery voice, offer uncertainty to everyday emotions and reactions. “If sunset is a wreck that recurs and makes a ghost of the day, what more can you say? There's a version in the back of your head To forfeit the years ... is that where it leaves me?” Mitchell asks on “Seconds When It's Minutes.” Much of the album continues this way, as Mitchell writes ambiguously of life and common tribulations in an uncommon way. “Come to Mean a Natural Law” gives insight into society at large: “You could finish and start in one breath, and put it all to death I'll never give into it next time round.” The song offers repetitious sound streams, inspiring the listener to just sit and comfortably think and identify with his words. Clue to Kalo has only been around since March 2003, when Mitchell released Come Here When You Sleepwalk. Mitchell wrote One Way on a four-month trip of self-discovery and recorded it in Australia. Clue to Kalo offers an optimistic and thought-provoking succession with One Way, It's Every Way for indie-rock and pop-electronica fans. Even for those who don't necessarily prefer Kalo's sound, the brilliance of interlaced melodies mixed with equivocal lyrics deserves respect on some level. - The Maneater |
1XLP/Out Of Print