Katzenjammer – A Kiss Before You Go (Review)
Review by Jack Foley
KATZENJAMMER’S A Kiss Before You Go is a wonderfully eclectic delight… an album that’s by turns kooky and obscure yet also catchy and jig-along.
It’s a collection of folk-pop that’s also informed by Balkan flavours, cabaret clubs, comic strips and straight up pop with the odd dark number thrown in for good measure.
Katzenjammer are Anne Marit, Marianne, Solveig and Turid and they hail from Norway. Thus far, they’ve garnered something of a cult following on these shores. But thanks to this latest album, that following could now grow.
Produced by Mike Hartung (of Jaga Jazzist and A-Ha fame), A Kiss Before You Go is the type of album that keeps you on your toes throughout. And while some moments may invite a look of bemusement or surprise, there are others that will leave the broadest grin across your face.
Current single Rock-Paper-Scissors falls into the latter category, by virtue of its fiddle-strewn pop and jiggy values. It’s a party-starter and a crowd-pleaser that conjures memories of Irish pubs on a Saturday night or Balkan camp-sites and traveller shindigs. But no matter, it invites you to dance and sing along, particularly once its cracking chorus kicks in.
On a more bemusing front, however, a cover version of the classic Genesis song Land of Confusion really catches you off-guard. There’s simply no clue from the opening instrumentation, which owes more to slinky cabaret than the dark tones of the original, but once the lyrics begin and the chorus hits, it rings with familiarity and emerges as a really interesting take on the original.
Prior to that, you have the cute Cherry Pie, with its crisp banjo licks, twinkling piano chords and ‘40s and ‘50s sounding vocals (The Pipettes, anyone?), and a little later on the robust baroque pop of Cocktails and Ruby Slippers that’s delivered with genuine zest.
The Eastern European influence returns on Soviet Trumpeter, which even leans to the cinematic (of Tim Burton), while there’s old school rock ‘n’ roll on the woo-hoo laden Loathsome M and barnstorming, harmonica backed folk rock on Shepherd’s Song.
Gypsy Flee has a ramshackle quality that offers a rowdy two minute-plus interlude (and the type of track that could just as easily fit into the soundtrack of Guy Ritchie’s latest Sherlock Holmes outing), while I Will Dance (When I Walk Awa) combines melancholy break-up sentiments with the breeziest of pop instrumentals.
All told, it’s a wonderful musical journey that deserves to find a wide listener base.
Download picks: Cocktails And Ruby Slippers, Rock-Paper-Scissors, Land of Confusion, Loathsome M, Shepherd’s Song, I Will Dance (When I Walk Away)
Track listing: