Myths of the Near Future

Rating:
A hall of records, or numbers, or spaces still undone. Ruins or relics, disciples and her young

Well it can’t be helped. Any review on Klaxons records will always, always mentions about sunken cities, lost civilizations, ruined ancient buildings, future love, time travel, Cyclops, centaurs and magic. Any such review will also quote the lyrics of Four Horsemen of 2012: There’s a half-man half-horse that still polutes my thoughts as he rides on a flame in the sky….

That’s what Klaxons, the most visionary band in the last decade, are all about. This is the band that describes their music as ‘when Buzz Aldrin returned to Earth and became a Muslim’. They have a vision, perhaps visions. Their debut album, aptly titled Myths of the Near Future, contains music that has the potential to change the shape of Music forever. Klaxons have actually done it earlier last year, when they woke Britain up with the siren at the beginning of Atlantis to Interzone and helped the birth of so-called new rave. But as lesser bands come and go, Klaxons hid in their studio and poured every ammunition they have into the album – and so they have come out with a groundbreaking record that surpasses anything ever happened in new rave. And, probably, in Music. Punk-meets-dance has reached its peak with Klaxons.

Their sounds and stories range, like the title of their unforgettable, adrenaline-inducing single, from Atlantis to Interzone. (Interzone is William Burrough’s concept of non-space – just one of the many literature trivia mentioned by the band. Hell, they even have a song called Gravity’s Rainbow.) They evoke the memories of Ulysses’ journey in Isle of Her. They gather a jumbled collection of myths and legends, be it from the Classic Age or the Space Age or any other Ages you can think of, and build their own with the fragments. They break free from the mundane, and choose to sit with the insane and the visionary, and become prophets that don’t only read the future: they shape it, they change history, they go forth and back in time, they stand at the aleph. They jump freely, crossing space and time, with Wells and Lovecraft, drinking tea with Greek gods and heroes while reading Ozymandias, stealing their lover from the year 4000 and riding with her to meet Douglas Adams and Jorge Luis Borges.

Frankly speaking, Jamie, James and Simon are not the best of singers. But when they harmonize their vocals, they sound like the choir of the Divine, singing anthemic lines that require people to religiously sing along. I can envision the Colosseum, chock-full of people chanting in unison, ‘Aaaatlantis, to Interzonee…’ Or perhaps ‘Row! There’s only seven more miles to go….

Romantic, bold, Klaxons are legend. It is, definitely, the record of 2007 – and maybe in the Year 4000, people will say that it’s the record of history.

Come with me, come with me, we’ll travel to infinity…

Tags: music, The Klaxons