It’s rare to stumble across a band that successfully avoid comparisons in an era when album oriented rock is more difficult to find than eclecticism. As such this Norwegian four piece are a beautiful anomaly.
In fact, their music is so atypical they’ve managed to remain firmly under the aural radar for most music loving Brits, meaning their third album, A Kiss Before You Go (arriving May 7th), is the first many on these islands will have heard from the group. Hence us taking the time to introduce the players.
Anne Marit Bergheim, Marianne Sveen, Solveig Heilo and Turid Jørgensen make up Katzenjammer, the band in question. The new LP opens with the title song, which sounds like some Russian folk chorus, all sombre and sincere (complete with accordions), before exploding into the upbeat I Will Dance (When I Walk Away), a track apparently similarly inspired by traditionalism, though more in tune with a jig.
So far so folky then, but skip forward two places on the disc for the far heavier, sexier and unarguably searing Land of Confusion, which shares something in common with Parisian jazz performed by Cold War Kids, if such a thing ever existed. Meanwhile, grand finale God’s Great Dust Storm could be Kate Bush signing a gospel. Suffice to say, their work is utterly unique.
On top of the new record a single – Rock Paper Scissors>/i> – taken from the album will be released on the same day. Katzenjammer also just captivated a crowd at London’s Scala, a date preceding several more across the UK in May. Beginning at Bristol Academy 2 (18th), the band take in Manchester Academy 3 (19th), Glasgow King Tuts (19th), Birmingham Academy 2 (20th), Brighton Concorde 2 (22nd), and finally London XOYO (23rd). Needless to say then, miss them and miss out.
