‘Spiral Girl’ is slightly, only slightly mind, less dark than the previous single from KLAMMER ‘Modern God’ (Read our review). It’s more post-punk, more swirly. It’s not, thank the god of your choice, any less gloriously, magnificently, epic-ly huge. It has this wonderfully catchy, horribly earwormy eastern thing going on. A pounding beat, a bass line that just gets your feet going.
Going into the track it sounds, of all things, like one of those gloriously overblown New Romantic tracks, It’s that heavily fx’ed guitar (although I thought it was a keyboard, I don’t always get that right) those vocals – so wonderfully over-enunciated. And then in a rush it starts to swirl, the guitar starts to ring in that post-punky gothy sort of way and you are taken, you just want to spin and spin.
The other thing I must get to now, is the lyrics, they’re great. The song is a tale of nostalgia, about a woman in her glamorous youth when she was the centre of attention. But it’s also a plea for her not to lose it, to not let her heart go cold. There is a warmth in the words that is incredibly effective. And those words get stuck in your head, I just keep getting the lines
She remembers the time before
The faded seaside glamour
and
Her favourite things have been and gone, but it does really matter
She will always be the one, as crazy as a hatter
Going round in my head. But it’s not just the words it’s the way they are delivered, I love the vocals on this track, the way they are just so carefully sung, And you can hear the words thankfully for lyrics that are so good.
And, as my inner voice keeps reminding me, what I must not forget to mention is that this thing has the most wonderful tune, a tune that if you were so inclined, and I am, you might find yourself humming suddenly. And because beneath all of that glorious sound there is something which is weirdly poppy, you can, as I do, find yourself singing the sing to yourself as you traipse down the supermarket aisle – I say myself but the startled look on the face of the woman with two children in tow the other afternoon indicates that perhaps it wasn’t as under my breath as I imagined.
‘Spiral Girl’ is perhaps more accessible than ‘Modern God’, so if you’re looking for a way into KLAMMER it might be good choice.
This song from KLAMMER is gloriously wonderful, it’s epic, it’s huge. It’s engaging in a ‘sit down and listen to it’ way, and if you’re in the mood for dancing it’ll get you going absolutely crazy in seconds. I, for one, need stuff like this in my life.
‘Spiral Girl’ is available on a limited edition 7″ (300 copies) and as a download. The vinyl version is available from the band’s website https://www.klammer.co.uk
Musicglue https://www.musicglue.com/klammerband/shop
Rough Trade https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/music/klammer-spiral-girl
The info
Klammer came to life in 2014, drawing from the members’ shared love for all things angular, dark, loud and melodic. The W.Yorks based quartet put a contemporary twist on the post-punk attitude. Although there’s plenty of hooks in their songs, there’s a dark and edgy broodiness coursing through the sound of the band.
They’ve gigged and toured with the likes of The Skids, The Undertones, Richie Ramone, The Membranes, Art Brut and played at Rebellion in 2017.
