Klaxons
Myths of the Near Future
(Polydor) £10.99
London-based newcomers Klaxons made quite an entrance last year, heralding the arrival of a new scene. With their cover versions of Nineties rave tunes - 'Not Over Yet' by Grace has made it on to this heady debut album - and their embrace of ecstasy culture, the Klaxons gleefully declared the new rave season open. It was meant to be a bit of mischief. Now, half-a-dozen bands are following in Klaxons's fluorescent footprints.
Although the glare of glowsticks may have lit this three-piece's way to a deal with Polydor, they might live to regret the new rave tag. A few sirens, synth stabs and 'Not Over Yet' aside, there isn't much rave in Myths Of the Near Future.
Pogoing behind the banks of synthesisers is, instead, a band steeped in art rock, soft pop and science fiction. Did the Prodigy ever pick up a book, much less get this sweaty-palmed about symbols and prophecies? 'Signs/You know I see them all the time,' coo various Klaxons on 'Totem on the Timeline', like a cooler version of Muse.
Myths of the Near Future, meanwhile, is the title of a JG Ballard short story. Simon Taylor, Jamie Reynolds and James Righton have a thing for Thomas Pynchon, too. 'Gravity's Rainbow' boasts verses whose gronky tumble recalls Brooklyn art rockers the Liars; the choruses, meanwhile, are perfect singalong pop.
That old rascal Aleister Crowley gets exhumed once again. 'Do what you will,' urges 'Magick', abetted by an irresistible on-beat.
Although the Klaxons are musical hedonists by inclination, there is a lot here for wallflowers, paranoiacs and pop fans to get their teeth into. If they can make out the lyrics, that is: mushy three-way falsettos add to the band's sense of mystery. Burying new rave a year after they started it, Klaxons and white-hot producer James Ford have, instead, made a deliriously insistent pop record whose antecedents include Bowie and Blur.
From the focusing drum pattern that introduces 'Two Receivers', to the parting clatter of 'Four Horsemen of 2012', their energy never slackens; current single 'Golden Skans' trumps the Feeling at their own cheesy game. This record will make the Klaxons stars, not because of new rave, but in spite of it.
