Album Review: Klaxons, Surfing The Void

25 August 2010

by Nathan Jolly

Cats have taken over the blogosphere, and YouTube, so it was only a matter of time before they started clawing their way into indie cool. The past (American) summer saw felines feature on the artwork of releases by MGMT, Best Coast and Wavves. Cat Power indeed. Klaxons take this to the most unlogical but awesome conclusion by featuring a cat in an astronaut suit [like Bowie: BAM], posed in a press shot next to a flag. By naming the record Surfing The Void, they have also incorporated that other 2010 indie-catch-all, a surf reference. Soundwise, however, the band is anything but reactionary.

The band have calmed down a lot from the schizo-electro sound of their debut Myths Of The Near Future, and rather then see them return to an indifference audience after three years in the musical void (a long time in fickle NME-land), the wait has made this release a welcome return, rather than a dying grasp. For one, the annoying persistent double tracked falsetto/octave vocals are no longer there at every pass, nor is the relentless propulsion which proved exciting in small live doses, but ultimately failed to translate across a full-length.

Opener Echoes feels its way in slowly, letting the band’s spacey sound adjust to the new terrain. It is not until the title track three songs in that the first sign of their former dancey past emerge. Valley Of The Calm Trees channels The Mars Volta in its quick shifting schizo approach, however the melody line remains defiantly laid back. It’s as if the band have taken their time getting to this point, and are in no hurry at the eleventh hour.

The middle section of the album is the only notable sag, with three similar sounding songs (Venusia, Extra Astronomical and Flashover) the victims in a flaw of sequencing. Twin Flames attempts to suggest variety with a considered drum pattern, but it’s mainly window dressing.

Luckily this doesn’t last. Future Memories as the penultimate track offers up a distillation of the best elements of this band, and should prove to be one of the best received songs on the album, while Cypherspeed is the space-infused finale to the record; inventive, cheeky and an exciting point to possible futuresexysounds. This track is what Muse aim for, but will never achieve.

Expanding the band's musical palette while retaining the strengths that saw them hit in the first place, Surfing The Void is a fine follow up. And coming in at under 40 minutes, it doesn't outstay its welcome.