Klaxons
Surfing the Void
(Modular)
Three years on from their slam-bang debut
Myths of the Near Future, Britain’s brashly catchy Klaxons are finally back with a follow-up. While there were reports the band scrapped a second album after its UK label Polydor turned it down, as
frontman Jamie told us in our recent interview with Klaxons, that wasn't the case at all. And
Surfing the Void is no MGMT-style feat of uncommercial indulgence. In fact, it sounds rather alarmingly like the first record, from the themes of deep space and alternate realms to the ultra-busy scramble of dance-damaged Britpop. It’s maybe more rock, but the overdriven layers and determined urgency are unchanged.
Bagging the 2007 Mercury Prize,
Myths... was notable for making earworm anthems from brainy sci-fi subject matter that referenced authors like J.G. Ballard, William S. Burroughs, and Thomas Pynchon. Likewise,
...Void smuggles such clinical phrases as “extra astronomical”, “celestial catastrophe”, and “myriads of silver disks” into sweeping refrains. The slipperiness of time still hovers in the band’s mind – see especially ‘Future Memories’ – and it has a bit more resonance now that Klaxons have emerged from the first-album hype cycle that swallows some bands for good. Similarly, standard youthful anxieties are channelled via chilling flashes of desperation, paranoia, and on the pounding finale ‘Cypherspeed’, “pandemonium … hyper-confusion … the chaos of oblivion.”
All of which makes Klaxons feel like their own band: they found their niche early and are content to expand it only ever so slightly. Surfing the Void underlines the notion that they’re not overly derivative, despite whiffs of classic Britpop, rave and other forms of dance music, post-punk, and Silver Apples. Most importantly,
it's both dreamy and energising, hardly letting up from the second the lead track and single ‘Echoes’ explodes into being. If the lack of substantial variation can feel stifling at times, there’s enough hungry rhythms and overall storminess to keep us rapt. And as on
Myths..., vocal interplay provides one more addling layer of friction. The whole thing is a harsh yet palatable pop overload that’s suitably intense. While not the evolution some may have anticipated,
Void... offers consistent thrills without dumbing down Klaxons’ intergalactic preoccupations.
Doug Wallen
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Klaxons - 'Echoes'