CD: I Am Kloot, Gods and Monsters

(Echo)

The mood of I Am Kloot's third album is northern gothic: songs begin with lines like "Love may have just come to bury me", while vampires and monsters lurk in the shadows. Highlights such as Sand and Glue, in which the everyday and the grotesque intertwine, suggest mischievous frontman Johnny Bramwell might develop into a Mancunian version of the young Tom Waits - a nighthawk at the chippy.

And his band's music is appropriately cinematic: a queasy Wurlitzer organ lends the title track the air of a haunted fairground, and a film noir saxophone solo weaves blearily through Avenue of Hope. Admirers will likely crown Gods and Monsters the band's best yet, while the lilting chorus of the single, Over My Shoulder, might make even the unititiated cock an ear.

Contributor

Dorian Lynskey

The GuardianTramp

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