Some music seems to be a melting pot of sounds and ideas that takes some unravelling, if you’re that sort of person, one who feels the need to explore what’s under the musical hood of the car. I’m a reviewer so I am that sort of person. Other music paints instant pictures and conjures immediate imagery, so much so that you can instantly see what you are dealing with. Kalo are the latter type of band.
Right from the first bar you can picture them in some Southern roadhouse or dive bar firing off salvos of raw, bluesy, roots rock…groovesome r’n’b meets old-school rock and roll. A timeless rock sound that never goes out of fashion because it was never in fashion, just constant, ever present and undiminished. It is sassy, sexy and soulful and like all great trio’s gets its power from three musicians all contributing equally, nothing is wasted, nothing over played and everyone gets to play a role.
It is a sound that we are familiar with for sure, but it is a sound which is normally described in reviews containing words such as classic, iconic and seminal; swaggering rock and roll, bar-band attitude and raw grooves, and wholly unapologetic about it. And why would you need to apologise about something this great? Not every song has to break down barriers, not every band needs to explore pastures new, sometimes it is good enough to take a great sound and make it your own. This is one of those times.
There is a famous quote that those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. But I would add that those who do remember the past are free to take its finest moments, hone and refine them and use them to build bridges into the future. Kalo do just that.
