Winner of the coveted Mercury Prize for their 2007 release Myths of the Near Future, Klaxons have enjoyed an influx of success in their home base of the UK. Strangely, for a band that in 2007 was recognized for releasing the best album in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Klaxons have had a hit or miss rise in America.
Compare Klaxons to this year’s Mercury Prize winner The xx, whose self-titled debut has been making leaps and bounds on not only the European scene but through what seems to be every Brooklynite’s roof party playlist. So what happened? Why am I the only person I know that regularly spun the first Klaxons album? The answer to this question will explain why I believe their sophomore album, Surfing The Void, will not be a breakout album for Klaxon in the US either.
What makes Klaxons a great band is that they have been able to fuse the indie brit pop texture of Arctic Monkeys and Bloc Party with a dance rave sound. Though a large portion of the music community has tried to dub this new genre, the definition they settled on is the laughable classification of ‘New Rave’. What’s really worth mentioning here is that so many music writers believed Klaxons required their own category.
When listening to their most recent release, I was intrigued to see what these London boys would bring to the table. One listen through the album confirmed my high hopes. Klaxons have made new leaps in honing their indie rave sound and do many things incredibly well. Namely, their transitions are on another level. On your first listen, try to predict what is going to happen next on the title track “Surfing The Void”. It’s impossible. The way the verses, choruses, and bridge are intertwined is mind boggling.
Klaxons take risks in arrangement that most bands are too cowardly to touch. Veering far from traditionalism but still remaining catchy as hell, Klaxons win me over with the overall production and sound of this album.
Here’s where I return to that nagging question about why so many people haven’t heard a speck about Klaxons. Although their confident and bold writing style on Surfing the Void has won me over on so many levels, the feelings I have mirror my sentiment towards their previous album. The fact is, there are only two, maybe three songs on the album that hit hard and remain strong throughout. On this album it’s “Echoes” and “Venusia”. On the last album it was “Golden Skans”, “As Above So Below”, and “Gravity’s Rainbow”. When comparing this album to the recent efforts of Brit bands like The xx and Wild Beasts, who are both responsible for brilliant albums beginning to end, Surfing The Void is undoubtedly going to get lost in the shuffle.
So as much as I can talk about the truly great sound of Klaxons, they will likely only remain the band responsible for the best song or two I put on a mix for a friend.
