Crawling from the often dark, mostly cold, and irrepressibly desolute underbelly of late 1990’s Manchester, I Am Kloot have for the past six years or so slowly, but surely been garnering a reputation for crafting beautiful, shimmering, heartfelt songs that belie the sometimes oppressive nature of their hometown ’...You’re like the clouds in my hometown, you just grow flat, and hang around...’. Always with a hidden, almost suppressed element of warmth, hope and optimism I am Kloot offer a subversive slice of popular culture life, they always seem to border on the darker side of happy, yet seem able to remain eternally positive.

This record has a distinct lo-fi feel about it, that’s not to say it’s overly quiet or too stripped back acoustic sounding, moreso that it has an earthy, almost ramshackle aura. ‘Gods and Monsters’ is the sound of three guys going into a studio, playing their parts, and then going home; it’s not awash with overdubs, it’s simple, plain, and stunningly beautiful. They know exactly what they should be playing, they know exactly how the record should sound, they deliver and depart. All this comes together perfectly to make it eternally more endearing than the squeaky clean, highly polished, and over produced mass market pop that is out there on mainstream radio stations and in the high street record stores today.

Opener, ‘No Direction Home’ is a pounding, brooding quasi-anthemic sub Doves hypnotic killer. The guitar stabs and struts whilst the piano meanders along a melodious, subtle pathway. The title track, ‘Gods and Monsters’ is again slightly stilted, it tries it’s hardest not to flow but fails miserably – and that is its real charm. I can only describe this track as menacing (lite), it’s impossible to feel threatened as the chorus surges and sways from the angular verses. Swiftly followed up with ‘Over My Shoulder’ the sound turns more towards an easier on the ear sound, this is real pop with balls, musically it’s impossible to fault, lyrically, they really give you something to think about. Albert Camus meets Johnny Marr; and nowhere is this combination of lyrical desperation versus melodious yet subdued guitar evident than on ‘The Stars Look Familiar’, it has hints of Postcard era Orange Juice and in equal measure a direct link with The Wild Swans ‘Northern England’, This is certainly one of the standout tracks of the album and along with ‘Strange Without You’ and ‘Stray’ forms a central platform which the rest of the record drapes around perfectly. ‘Stray’ being perhaps the most perfect pop song that you will hear all year, it’s a delicate acoustic ballad that deserves all the plaudits that I can offer.

‘Hong Kong Lullaby’ starts what would have been side two of a vinyl album with a short, atmospheric, dreamily haunting instrumental which proves to be an intensely strong yet seemingly delicate foundation for the rest of the record. It has a distinct parallel with ‘Elizabeth My Dear’ and sets the scene for a rockier side of the band in much the same way. It works a treat. ‘Sand and Glue’ shows ‘I Am Kloot’ rocking out a bit and giving it some, it’s perhaps the wildest part of this collection and is swiftly dragged back down to earth by ‘Avenue of Hope’, an absolute gem. This song is so evocative, it’s impossible to listen without having all the visual imagery swirling round in your head, if ever there was a film score without a film then it is this song, unequalled, unparalleled, without question one of their finest moments to date. Following this would be a difficult job, but ‘Dead Mens Cigarettes’ does it admirably, a song that is a whole episode of ‘Shameless’ in just under three minutes. This band should be getting so much more for their efforts.

Closing the album is the double whammy of ‘Coincidence’ and ‘I Believe’ the former, a hopelessly forlorn, heart wrenching, life in tatters style semi-ballad left broken in a thousand pieces on the floor; the latter, an up beat, hopeful anthem oozing elation, positivity and good will with an inane grin across its face. It reminds me musically of The Byrds and a million bands since then who have tried to be like them. It extols the virtues of shopping bags, bus stops, drizzle, wheelie bins, petrol fumes, graffiti, unemployment, mattresses dumped in canals, next doors vicious dog shitting in your garden and burnt out cars being dumped in the park. It shows how we can all be enlightened by ‘...the hallelujah chorus of the shopping malls...’. It’s a long time since a song has made me feel so positive, so warm and free, so hopeful, so invincible.

‘...I thought I’d just string along, I never thought that we would last this long, but I have seen, now I believe...’

Words by Johnny Mac
 

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