Echo
2003
I Am Kloot
About This Album
I Am Kloot's self-titled sophomore album is an absolutely gorgeous expansion of the dark and fractured sound of the band's debut. Where John Bramwell and company explored twisted love and regret on the relatively sedate and folk-oriented Natural History, I Am Kloot explodes with scuzzy epic rock guitars and jagged basslines, adds ornate backing instrumentation, and fleshes out its songs until they bleed anthemic charisma and emotion. Producer Ian Broudie offers a hand at the production desk, providing a welcome sheen closer to his work with Echo & the Bunnymen than his own Lightning Seeds material. The album feels every bit a grand coming-out party on par with the Verve's Urban Hymns, where that band kicked its art into overdrive. Indeed, fans like the Gallagher brothers of Oasis fame and other A-list artists were seen crawling out of the woodwork to praise I Am Kloot and revel in the group's live shows at the time of this album's release, just as they did with the Verve. If the album's overall sound takes on a more neo-psychedelic and heavier feel than the debut, touching on influences such as the Hollies, the Rolling Stones, and the Beatles, and maybe small doses of Sparklehorse and the Beta Band, I Am Kloot thrives most tellingly here on three superb highlights purely of the band's own creation.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,4,5,7,8 and 12)

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