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I Am Kloot – Play Moolah Rouge
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I Am Kloot Play Moolah Rouge, the Manchester trio’s fifth album, was apparently recorded in a rather economical 48 hours, the intention being to capture the urgency, intimacy and vitality of a live performance. A tiny PA system was even dragged into the studio to further enhance the low-key effect.
As motives go, it’s well intentioned, but sadly falls flat. The sound here is uniformly unfussy and raw, but in a wholly bad way. Listening to the spiralling guitars and gravelled, woozy vocals on tracks like opener ‘One Man Brawl’ often feels a bit like you’ve stumbled into a Battle of the Bands night in the back room of a dodgy Bolton pub. That’s not “raw and vital” – it’s just badly produced.
Despite all this, the I Am Kloot sound of old has been beefed up slightly with the addition of a sprinkling of warm Hammond organ and some steel guitar. It works nicely enough on songs like ‘Down at the Front’ and ‘Chaperoned’, which have something of the air of a cut-price, provincial Blonde on Blonde about them. Mundane storytelling is most definitely the name of the game. ‘Chaperoned’ details a relationship breakdown over a walking, early ‘60s-style beat, and ‘The Runaways’ – well, that’s about running away.
It’s all a bit one dimensional, and a challenging listen if you’re not keen on John Bramwell’s voice – a gravelly croon way up in the mix which tends to niggle and annoy over the course of 10 songs. If it’s Mancunian miserablism you’re after, look to the latest Elbow album or someone like Doves, who do this sort of thing a hell of a lot better.
Stewart Turner
