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Clor 'Clor'
It only seems like yesterday when the first material from London five-piece Clor began appearing on our collective radar, but already the electro-rock-funksters’ long-player is bouncing toward shop shelves. Quirky, peculiar and genuinely quite good.
Buried in amongst the jaunty electro-bounce of recent single ‘Outlines’ is the lyric, “Each of us is special, in our own unique way" which serves perfectly as an accurate prologue to Clor’s debut album. Led by songwriting duo Barry Dobbin and Luke Smith and occupying a forgotten corner of the angular art-rock bracket, ‘Clor’ fluctuates throughout from the genius to the ridiculous to the downright shambolic.
Starting off brightly enough, ‘Good Stuff’ is a quirky slice of feel-good pop while the Xfm-rated single ‘Love + Pain’ is also never unwelcome as it’s blend of spiked guitar riffage and funky drumming force a nation of indie-clubbers to get off their backsides and shake their skinny ties. While Justin Hawkins massacres Sparks’ back-catalogue, much of Clor’s more overstated tracks treat the Mael brothers’ legacy with a little more respect, while the indie jabs of XTC and hints of a more soulful Gary Numan are also never far away. At their most obtuse, the pair push the envelope just a little too far for comfort and so while tracks like 'Garden Of Love' or 'Stuck In A Tight Spot' are respectably crafted, they eventually tend to simply get on your nerves.
Elsewhere, ‘Gifted’ changes the pace again, stripping away the layers of electronic posing for some delicately formed quiet time. Unfortunately, the low points of this record come when the quintet get sloppy. ‘Making You All Mine’ kicks off like a new Warp records signing, all Aphex bleeps and burps, but with insipid vocals and little structure it rarely manages to impress. Which roughly sums up the negatives of the Brixtonians' debut; when it works, it works very well indeed, but in places it feels like it tries too hard. However, these criticisms are minor and Clor should be commended simply for having the balls to attempt such a futile mash-up of influences. From prog to jazz to funk to indie, the hit rate always outweighs the misses making this debut somewhat special, albeit in its own unique way.
Clor 'Clor' (Parlophone) Released July 25 2005.
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