I Am Kloot
Wall of Sound
Manchester-born musician John Bramwell began his career as a street performer, eking out a meager living in such exotic locations as Paris, Athens, and San Francisco, before nearly starving to death and returning home tail between legs. After singing to cows in Wales for a year, he assembled a small band in Manchester and began singing to human beings. The music he plays has the decidedly folky, acoustic-derived tenor you might expect of a lad who spent his formative years busking on foreign streets, fitting nicely into the welcome new British folk-pop movement that has made stars out of the likes of Badly Drawn Boy and Gorky's Zygotic Mynci. Like the aforementioned artists, Bramwell possesses a sharp lyrical sensibility that is by turns melancholy and sardonic. He too demonstrates an affinity for the traditional British forms explored several decades ago by Richard Thompson and Bert Jansch, while giving his music definite pop appeal with a solid rock rhythm section and the occasional psychedelic guitar passage.
I Am Kloot started getting attention from the British press almost instantaneously thanks to several highly laudatory reviews of their early singles and Bramwell's notoriously antagonistic treatment of his audiences at live performances. The trio signed to the Wall of Sound sub We Love You in spring of 2000, contributing the track "Over My Shoulder" to the imprint's inaugural compilation CD, We Love You...So Love Us Too. The band then set to work recording an album, which they prefaced with the October 2000 EP Twist, then delivered in early 2001. Natural History is their outstanding debut -- 12 smart, intuitive acoustic pop songs that sound surprisingly lush and eclectic considering their relative simplicity. Bramwell has obviously honed his skills during all those years performing on the street; he's a talented songwriter with a deeply affecting vocal delivery. Expect more good stuff from I Am Kloot.
Jesse Ashlock
last updated:
06/19/02
Similar Artists:
Alfie, Ooberman, Mull Historical Society, Badly Drawn Boy, The Reindeer Section, Gomez, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci
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