| Overdoing it is a common symptom of many one-man bedroom bands. And while it’s said that too many cooks can spoil the broth, it’s also true that one person left alone in a room with a computer and some instruments can result in a product that’s bland or, even more distasteful, self-indulgent. Indeed, there’s a lot happening on One Way, It’s Every Way. Like it’s cover art, it’s the carefully arranged details within these songs that carry the most weight. Yet thankfully, Clue To Kalo, aka Adeladian laptop maestro Mark Mitchell, has avoided the aforementioned singer/songwriter pitfalls. Instead, One Way, It’s Every Way is exactly like a good meal should be: satisfying but not sickening. With virtually no breaks between the ten tracks, Mitchell’s second full-length effort – which features instrumentation from various friends – is definitely an album album. The songs fold into each other seamlessly, but for all its pastoral/electronica meanderings, this album is still a very solid pop recording. Which is where the confusion lies. At times Mitchell’s vocals seem out of step with the music. For an artist who creates such free and fluid music, his vocals often seem rigid and restrained. Undeniably, Mitchell’s whispery melodies – reminiscent of the late Elliot Smith – are lovely, but there’s a certain flatness, in terms of emotion, that crystallizes the mood but ultimately takes it nowhere. For an artist who obviously prides himself on his words as much as his sounds – the lyrics are printed in entirety on the sleeve – it’s also difficult to decipher many of his mumbled words. Overall, it’s a contemplative rather than an impassioned album, but for all his efforts at lyrical verbosity, you can’t help but feel that Mitchell is whispering sweet nothings. That said, it’s evident that One Way, It’s Every Way is a blueprint for inspired things to come. - Inpress |
1XLP/Out Of Print