A pulse starts up, vocals are panned beautifully across my head, the pulse is growing, stronger and stronger. A lone piano kicks in, delay ridden and full of remorse. So far, so promising. And then this buildup is interrupted by some terrible close harmonies, and some of the most cliched lyrics ever. “You wandered out into the crowd, you wonder how you got there. And the sound is very loud, from underground”. At that point I closed iTunes.
And then I realised that I had to review this album. Only, now, many days have passed inbetween my first listen and this, my full playthrough times 3. I was hesitant, nay scared to approach the rest of the album since being utterly turned off by the debut album from Melody Klyman, entitled Sovereign. But, it’s my job, so onwards I go.
Title track ‘Sovereign’, source of the dreadful lyrics, is strong on production terms for sure. Everything sounds clean and well mixed, there are some great ideas floating around in the background, if not overwhelmed at times by a selection of slightly nasty synth sounds. I just can’t. Get. Past. Those lyrics! Yes, Melody Klyman can sing well, sometimes a bit too faux-soulful but still possessing a certain amount of charm. Considering that I was maybe being a bit harsh, I took some sample lyrics from the second track to check if it was just a one off. Second track: “I was cold as december, too old too remember, was it better to say nuh-huthing at all. I was cold as December, and smart Eee-nough to offend her, there’s just things that we discover, like it or not”. Now, that may not be as bad as the last set of prose, but if you actually listen to the track you will be able to hear that the words are shoe-horned so badly into the song that it just sounds wrong, wrong and wrong.
Sorry. I just turned the album off again. I shouldn’t keep informing you, the avid reader of my specific reviewing motions, but it’s important to note that I struggle to listen to this album, it’s actually that grating. Track three, ‘Sparkle’, starts like Madonna’s ‘Like A Prayer’ for some reason, but not in a good way, in a derivative one. And then continues in the same direction for three minutes, albeit with some nice harmonies. ‘Fool For Me’ has an excellent bit crushed and mangled motif bouncing around your ears, but ultimately comes across as a bit of a cheap trick to disguise that this is again, the same song as the three before it. ‘Never Stay Away’, attempts an adventurous chord progression, and some natty 80′s drum sounds, but falls flat on its face. ‘Hunt Of The Innocent’ = Same pulsey bass drum, same vocals, but this time with more strings. About as emotionally affecting as a sock. A grey sock. ‘Magic’ comes and goes, with only one thought. Must there be something that pans across your head at the start of EVERY piece? What was originally interesting is now dull and repetitive. Some horrible stock guitars add that tacky power ballad vibe. ‘If you believe in Magic.’? Next track please.
Wait! ‘Trigger Me’ doesn’t start with anything panned stupidly…..oh there we go. Thankyou drumkit, for coming in very slowly in an incredibly arrogant (if drums can indeed be arrogant) way. Oh, Melody, is that you singing a nice introduction? Again? Yes. Right, next track. To be fair, ‘Caught’ does make an attempt to be different, with a simple start, vocals coming in after 20 seconds, and some panned blips and shit.
No. No It doesn’t. That isn’t different! That’s the same FUCKING THING! My good greasy God in heaven! Skip. Last song, ‘Eleventh Hour’, is the same thing. Right, end of album. Can i stop reviewing now? A summary? Okay. Fine.
This album is bad. Bad because it’s viciously repetitive. Bad because the production is good but the songwriting isn’t. Bad because Melody Klyman puts across this soul diva personality through the way she sings, but her lyrics let her down majorly. This is on a par with Razorlight and Keane in terms of skull crushing boredom. And people like Melody Klyman should never assume that just because they have had some critical acclaim, they are suddenly a good artist and can bash out an album of this quality. Razorlight and Keane have also been critically acclaimed. What does that tell you? I’m sure that Melody Klyman is a lovely person, with a great deal of talent. But this isn’t about the person, it’s about the music presented. And while the musician in me is screaming in my brain to write a more balanced and positive review, i find myself instead overwhelmed with the bile only a music critic can muster. Bile caused by this album.
So, Melody Klyman, here’s some critical acclaim.
Oh, wait. No. Not acclaim. I used the wrong word there. My bad. I meant ‘panning’.
20%
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Other albums by this artist
Seems to me someone was on the rag. Why don’t you just assign this disc to a different reviewer?
We can’t all be Pitchfuck, ya know?
Do you know, sometimes, I despair
What does ‘on the rag’ mean? What I think it does?
Why don’t you READ the review? Properly?
Instead of trying to be CLEVER?
Which you’re OBVIOUSLY not!
A reviewer REVIEWS
Too technical for you?
Normally I’ve found this site somewhat insightful on up and coming artists but this review of the Sovereign disc by Melody Klyman reeks of spite. What gives?
I first discovered her from the cover CD off of Clash magazine and then downloaded the entire Sovereign album. This album has become one of my favorites and I think anyone that likes great singer-songwriters like Annie Lennox or Kate Bush would enjoy this.
He hinted at the good production and underlying tones of electronica. I would say inflections of Massive Attack and Cocteau Twins in parts. The track Sparkle gives me strength every time I hear it and often I find myself with goose bumps from the emotion of her vocals. And every song sounding the same and the album repetitive?-that’s just ridiculous-the album couldn’t be more diverse in styles almost to a fault.
Also let me clarify (in my opinion) that there is absolutely nothing unusual about the harmonies or lyrics in Sovereign or in Cold As December or on any of the album for that matter. I found nothing about them that lead me to feel they were shoe-horned into the song – WTF?
What happened to artistic license? Give her a break!
Perhaps there just weren’t enough indie band guitars or enough alt -folk styling’s on this album for the reviewer? – Talk about same shit and repetitive music – yawn….
Finding this album unemotional is absurd. I could go on and on but the reality is I feel he is way off base with his sarcasm and misrepresentation of the album. Many of these comments make me have to wonder why he didn’t just let someone else review this if it was so incredibly difficult for him or perhaps just not review it at all.
Isn’t this a bit like being called “Chordprogression Smith” or “Bassline Johnson”? You’re not allowed “Melody” in your name, just cheating. Review is justified for the awful pseudonym tbh, unless it’s not a pseudonym, in which case, justified for having a terrible name.
To Downbythewater,
“this review of the Sovereign disc by Melody Klyman reeks of spite” – This review of the Sovereign disc by Melody Klyman is reflective of my listening experience. My criticism of Melody Klyman is obviously not personal. And while harsh at times, it was reflective of my opinions and therefore not unjustified.
“Perhaps there just weren’t enough indie band guitars or enough alt -folk styling’s on this album for the reviewer?” – Well done, you almost managed to destroy your whole argument with this horrible generalization. I am a fan of many different genres of music, artists within said genres, and very well versed in the repetoire of many of the artists namechecked when referencing Melody Klyman, so please do not let such uninformed assumptions escort an otherwise well-written comment in the future.
“Many of these comments make me have to wonder why he didn’t just let someone else review this if it was so incredibly difficult for him or perhaps just not review it at all.” – I reviewed this album because i took it on to review. It’s my job. And amazingly, there is such thing as a negative review. If i was to give this cd to someone who was a fan, then what would be the point? I had no prior experience of her, so surely someone completely new to Melody Klyman is well suited to review the album, with view of informing the TLOBF readership who were probably in the same position as me before i listened to this album.
You have good points to make, and your opinion is more than welcome on TLOBF. I replied as a) it’s fun to have a debate such as this, but mainly b) you made that ‘alt folk stylings’ comment. Which, if you’ll excuse the slip in eloquence, is a load of old toss. Please do not assume because i work for TLOBF, that i only like one genre of music. You’ll only make yourself look silly.
Again, nothing personal, i just like replying to these things :).
Peace and goodwill.
Sean
I appreciate you taking the time to respond Sean and I do respect that. With regards to the alt-folk comment it wasn’t necessarily directed at your tastes but more toward reviewers on the whole and the standard stuff being reviewed these days or shall I say glorified throughout every blog I frequent lately. Perhaps I am just missing something ..
And I do realize there is such a thing as a negative review just as there is such a thing as a negative response to a negative review ;)
To Adam:
As far as I understand Melody is her birth name(second name I think) but way to make such a very educated and enlightened criticism of someone’s work-well done you.
What? This is TLOBF, education and enlightenment rarely enter the equation, you silly!
heheheh, education is always good, if indeed rare! Melody is just destined to be in the music business with a name like that it seems.
And Downbythewater, very true, there is a lot of alt-folk rolling around the intraweb these days. Here at TLOBF, we do try and keep a level of variation in our music however, and will continue to do so for the benefit of readers like your fine self. And comments, negative or positive, are always appreciated :). I very much enjoyed your responses!
Take it easy,
Sean