Way back in 2014, I was struck by an understated yet commanding ballad from Icelandic foursome Kaleo called \u201cAll The Pretty Girls.\u201d With its gently weaving guitar line and vocalist J\u00f6kull J\u00fal\u00edusson\u2019s lovely falsetto, the single was an inviting introduction to a band that can move effortlessly from tender folk songs to blistering blues-rock \u2013 sometimes even within the same track. I feel like I\u2019ve been following Kaleo for a while now, though they\u2019ve been slowly but steadily building a following in their native Iceland since 2012. I even caught their live show earlier this year, bringing the anticipation to an all-time high. So how does their debut album A\/B <\/i>stack up? <\/p>\n
Well, at the very least, it\u2019s good enough to bring me out of my grad school-induced hiatus long enough to put words to paper about something other than ink blots. I was already familiar with about a third of the material that made its way to the album, including the slow-burning \u201cWay Down We Go\u201d and the incendiary \u201870s rock throwback \u201cNo Good,\u201d all foot stomps and howling guitar lines that mimic J\u00fal\u00edusson\u2019s throaty growl. Meanwhile, the utterly gorgeous \u201cVor \u00ed Vaglask\u00f3gi,\u201d sung in their native Icelandic, was Kaleo\u2019s first single way back in 2013 and provides a moment of quiet restraint amid a selection of energized, totally irresistible rock jams. J\u00fal\u00edusson\u2019s vocals are the anchor throughout the album, ranging from gruff to his soaring, upper-register falsetto; he\u2019s a perfect rock frontman, holding the listener in the palm of his hand with a confidence and grace. And of course, the rest of the band is no slouch either: there\u2019s drummer David Antonsson Crivello, and bassist Danny Jones, who both joined J\u00fal\u00edusson at the age of 17, and guitarist Rubin Pollock, who came aboard in 2012. <\/p>\n
While Kaleo certainly has some elements (and the attitude!) of hard rock\u2019s classic heyday, their amalgamation of styles on A\/B <\/i>is a modern look all their own. From the gritty blues swagger of \u201cGlass House,\u201d \u201cBroken Bones,\u201d and \u201cHot Blood\u201d \u2013 which sound like the Black Keys and AC\/DC meeting up for whiskey shots \u2013 to the sun-kissed folk twang of \u201cAutomobile,\u201d the songs here are straightforward but layered enough to stick with you. <\/p>\n
But it\u2019s the last two cuts of the album that cemented A\/B <\/i>as one of my top 10 contenders for this year. \u201cSave Yourself\u201d starts out spare and delicate, just the muted strum of the acoustic guitar and J\u00fal\u00edusson\u2019s pleading falsetto; but slowly, insistently, the instrumentation crests into the full-blooded refrain: \u201cHow you gonna break? Aren\u2019t you gonna take me? What\u2019s it gonna take?\u201d Meanwhile, I\u2019ve had closer \u201cI Can\u2019t Go On Without You\u201d on repeat since the first time I spun it a few months ago, and it pairs especially nicely with \u201cSave Yourself,\u201d capturing the bittersweet, painful pull of spurned love. The first forty seconds or so are just acoustic guitar crackling over the airwaves, overlaid with some ominous whistling, until J\u00fal\u00edusson\u2019s low growl emerges: \u201cWell, they thought they were made for each other \/ Only thinking of one another \/ Never thinking just for one second \/ She could take a different attraction,\u201d he sings, setting the atmosphere. Over the course of six minutes, it becomes a glorious epic full of cascading guitars, shimmers of violin, and J\u00fal\u00edusson\u2019s capable handling of the vocals, which range from explosive to cathartic to pleading as he reckons with the memory of his lost lover. At times, this cut almost sounds like it was plucked out of the \u201870s, and yet there is also something so timeless about it \u2013 it\u2019s just stunning. <\/p>\n
At 10 songs and 42 minutes, A\/B <\/i>provides a tantalizing glimpse of a band on the rise, beginning to both explore and cement their strengths. I\u2019d love to see them inject even more of their own personality into the simpler-sounding rockers, but the diversity of material here ensures that the disc never becomes stale. They also put on one heck of a live show!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":32771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[9840],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-44542","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-kaleo","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=44542"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=44542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}