Eyeballkid Album of the Week

Clor ‘Clor’ (Regal)

It says a lot about an album that you can have heard half of it already and still be thrilled by it. Clor have been around the London scene for a number of years, beginning with a club night in Brixton set up by songwriters Barry and Luke and then establishing themselves as an engagingly noisy live act at some of the more offbeat venues around the city. Last year’s ‘Welcome Music Lovers’ EP highlighted their electro pop charm and all four songs feature on their debut album.

They still sound fresh. ‘Good Stuff’ opens the record with its squealing guitar intro ambushed by a pulsating electro rhythm. ‘Gifted’ is a sweet song of love and defiance, ‘Magic Touch’ sounds like Prince fronting INXS (all he has to do is win the talent show) with Bootsy Collins on bass, while ‘Making You All Mine’ is a hypnotic nightmare of juddering beats and wavering silences. Subsequent singles ‘Outlines’ and the charged, jolting rhythms of the excellent ‘Love + Pain’ are just as good. So far so great.

What about the rest of it? ‘Hearts on Fire’ is dramatically catchy, ‘Dangerzone’ is soulful Krautrock and ‘Stuck in a Tight Spot’ veers confidently towards the avant garde meanderings of Captain Beefheart without skidding off the road. By the sweet and spacey finish of ‘Goodbye’, it’s hard not to regurgitate the same old superlatives you might hand out to one of those bands of hairdresser’s toys who happen to possess a semblance of musicianship. But Clor are better than that.

This album straddles the divide between pop and art, rock and dance without the band looking like ironic pranksters or bowlegged fashion victims. The bandwagon has torn off dragging the yelping pretenders behind it, while Clor trot steadily in their own direction. It may not be the most straight-forward route but the ride is worth it.

words: Colm Larkin


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