The stick that seems to beat I AM KLOOT the most frequently in critical circles is that they sound like Badly Drawn Boy, and (sorry), but it's undeniable that they are purveyors of a similarly surreal, breakbeat-assisted shuffle with an underlying - and nicely skewhiff - pop sensibility.
"Untitled# 1", the first taster from the soon-come second IAK album unhesitatingly emraces this approach, but to effective rather than nauseatingly derivative ends, as the track (featured here in both radio edit and full-length livery) is actually pretty memorable, with a nagging, soaraway guitar figure flying in and out and taunting the busy beats while singer Johnny Bramwell's stoned, compressed mutterings relate a bizarre, Brit.psyche lyric comparing his desired one to "a tree or a bus stop" and finding it "no surprise" when the calorie cops come. Well of course not! I mean, who would?
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All nicely oblique, but kookily catchy all the same. Throwing in the oddball instrumental that is "The Mermen" can't be faulted either, as its' dog whistle-bothering sonic freqencies, sub-aquatic groove, clanking anchor chains and (yes!) submarine bells ensure it'll be a favourite of diving clubs for years to come.
In the best possible British tradition, I AM KLOOT have got their surreality-infused-with-neat-tunes thing off pat. We await the album safe in the knowledge that there are worse things in life to aspire to than being trees or bus stops. So now you know.
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