Klaxons - Myths of the Near Future (Polydor)
4/5
By: Thomas Hannan
This is it, then. New rave sinks or swims on the merits of this record. And the initial prospects of its survival don't look particularly good. The thing is, whatever 'Myths of the Near Future' is, it's definitely not a rave record. It's a brave record, but it's not a rave record. If anything, it's a futuristic pop record. But to have been so critical of the term 'new rave' and instead coin a phrase like 'futuristic pop' is hypocritical, so forget you ever read that, or at least that you read it here.
Opener 'Two Receivers' both sets the scene and kills a genre all at once. Like much on 'Myths...' it's hugely, cleverly layered pop music. Yes, there's a lot going on all at once, and it's jarringly in your face, but each one of these sounds is omitting a very definite melody. And boy, it's surprisingly smooth.
If new rave does actually exist however, it goes as far as 'Atlantis To Interzone' and no further. And this song, this piece of music which has been responsible for so much crap journalism over the past year, this is absolutely, inescapably, inarguably bloody incredible. Sadly, such is the standard it sets, the Klaxons don't better it on this album. But they thankfully do leave the rave thing behind at this point (save for a cover), knowing that this was as far as it could ever go and as good as it was ever going to get. Masterfully, they haven't restricted themselves to badly titled scenes. By making interesting pop, they've opened up far many more doors. And they know it.
They're never more pop than they are on 'Golden Skans'. Though compared to previous singles it sounds a little flimsy, it works very well in this album context, when it's surrounded with other rounded pop nuggets, when you're not aching for them to be daring - when you're finally used to Klaxons the pop band. Though one thing still niggles - would anyone have cared about the Klaxons if they'd heard 'Golden Skans' before coming across 'Atlantis To Interzone'? Is it the case that I'm looking for ways to defend a band against a backlash that hasn't even begun yet, when instead I should be berating them for losing that edge so soon?
Perhaps. But instead of losing that edge, I think they've just used it to tear open different avenues to experiment in. At the minute you see, pop is the genre they've sliced in to with their rave-influenced thrashing about. And they milk it rather well.
'Totem on the Timeline' for example is a little bit more energised than 'Golden Skans', and after the oohs and aahs of what came before it, it is nice to hear them shouting again. Like everything else here, it's incredibly catchy, and there's barely room to breathe before another chorus rears its tuneful head - they're everywhere. Its partner song follows it - 'As Above, So Below' - and suddenly you notice that very rarely are there less than two people singing. Singing quite cutely. God, the Klaxons are such a pop band.
But truth told, it's a bit flat, that one. 'Isle of Her' is much better - a song with an exploratory feel and a creepily delivered melody, this is unlike anything you'd have expected from 'Myths of the Near Future' given the early evidence provided by the preceding EPs, and it alone shows what the Klaxons could do on album number two if they spend the time in between records exploring sonic textures rather than their own inflated egos. It's also, refreshingly, one of the few things on this record you wouldn't consider dancing to, and the one you'll mull over most.
As is the problem with many bands who are hyped so much before releasing a debut LP, you know the singles very well, and there are quite a few of them. As such, you get to know the album perhaps a little too quickly. This just might damage the longevity of 'Myths...' and that worries me somewhat, as does the gimmicky inclusion of their take on Grace's rave classic 'It's Not Over Yet' (a Paul Oakenfold side project, you remember - the one that goes 'it's not over, not over, not over, not over yet...!'). A song that, whilst enjoyable, adds little to the album, and perhaps should have stayed a live extravaganza. Let's hope it doesn't become their 'Hounds of Love'.
Back to those singles though - 'Gravity's Rainbow' you'll know very well. You know it's good, too. But in your heart of hearts you know it's not as good as 'Atlantis To Interzone', don't you? 'Magick' too was arguably the first of their singles to be something less than incredible, but it's much more than passable. In fact, there's something hugely enjoyable about how smug it sounds, like every word is delivered through a knowing grin. It all feels like that.
The attention to detail and the way they've built up the overall band aesthetic is also rather spectacular. The artwork is lovely - you can choose your own cover on the CD version, and the vinyl edition comes with a freakin' etching on the fourth side, mate. You'll feel like you really own something, and you don't get that so much with a lot of records these days. Filling the art and the songs with all this far out space imagery is great too, in an age where too much of music is bogged down in documenting the finer points of doner kebabs and the like. In this sense Klaxons are like a more playful, brattish Muse, a band who they'll share a stage with at Wembley Stadium this summer, at Muse's request. Klaxons are the kind of little sonic scamps that Muse's self importance didn't allow them to be when they were young, the kind of band they're only just now they're discovering it's OK to be, with things like 'Supermassive Black Hole'.
That was that, then. The record upon which new rave would sink or swim. And as a genre, it lies at the bottom of the ocean, given a burial at sea in a very public manner. But it's the Klaxons who have survived, riding that tag as far is it could go before jumping ship. Now, they stand tall, waving it goodbye as it sinks, knowing that the possibilities in front of them, as proved by this excellent debut, are far more exciting than mish mash genre names born out of convenience could ever be.
Artists in this article: Klaxons
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