I Am Kloot - Let It All In

The long-running Manchester trio have stood out in their career as being a little bit different. This has given them a fan base which has seen six studio albums released in 14 years. Without being revolutionary, I Am Kloot have appealed to a multitude of audiences, and with the help of close friend Guy Garvey of Elbow in production they have produced a record which hits decent heights.

John Bramwell’s gravelly voice sets the tone in Bullets, the voice of experience telling a story against a subdued but stark folksy backdrop. It is delicate and pronounced, with only a few sounds creating a vivid landscape that wakes up with a sudden electric guitar infusion. This opens Let Them All In, taking another turn as the record ebbs and flows through intelligent production and tight songwriting. Such is the intensity of Bramwell’s vocals Let It All In feels like a concept album, one man’s troubles strewn over a body of sounds that moves like a living creature. It is seamless and thought-provoking, and the colours get stronger as Hold Back the Night comes into play.

This track is possibly the song of the album, at first ticking along on a blues trail through a lamp-lit urban street and then flourishing into a rock deluge, capable of filling arenas nationwide and a definite first hit from the album. Blues pervades stretches of the record, eminent in Mouth On Me and lending poignancy to the folky riffs customary for the band. A wonderful image is created in Shoeless, and the listener can virtually see Bramwell with a guitar sat in a field, recounting his pain to nobody in particular and being swallowed up by the world. Such fantastical imagery grows in Even the Stars as the heavens open at the sound of an epic guitar line, but this is where the album hits its peak.

As if exhausted from the arena rock of the first six tracks the record wanes a little, waking up again on These Days are Mine which sounds like another I Am Kloot single. Melodrama is awash as the strings creep into the centre stage, but the closer is a simple ditty to round off an interesting multi-genre effort. Not a classic but with enough new ideas to suggest this alternative outfit have a few years left in them. This will only gain the band more fans, the existing audience will be enriched with impressive production and Bramwell’s distinctive rock voice.