Thursday, 15 November 2018

Me And My Kites - Natt o Dag


(This review first appeared in issue #79 of Shindig! magazine.)

Self Release LP

Stockholm's Me And My Kites are a curious bunch. The list of personnel and instruments on their third LP is so long they'd be more accurately described as an orchestra than a band. Flute, violin, oud, electric harpsichord, Mellotron and clarinet all get an airing. Not that their sound is dense, it's anything but, with restraint and subtlety favoured over any wall-of-sound.

As on their previous recordings they draw heavily from the Canterbury sound, but here blend in early classical touches, at times recalling the R&B-infused instrumentals of David Axelrod, the melancholic indie-noir of The Amazing, and Jean-Claude Vannier's atmospheric scores. Best of all is when these textures are married to a pop sensibility as on 'Another, a Lover'. At its best Natt o Dag is courtly chamber-pop with lyrics that touch on astrology and the seasons as well as affairs of the heart. A record whose charms are slow burning but worth the investment.

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