Like many of their contemporaries,
Clor are a British band heavily influenced by the sharp-edged sounds of the late '70s and early '80s. Interestingly enough, though, they find their niche within this trend by taking their inspiration not from tragically glamorous post-punk, but from the tightly wound, occasionally spazzy, but more mainstream side of new wave. Shades of
Devo,
Talking Heads,
the Cars,
Gary Numan, and (to a lesser extent)
Sparks can be heard on
Clor's self-titled debut album, which is full of blocky, geometric songs with melodies that could have easily been composed on graph paper.
Clor's opening track, "Good Stuff," is a perfect statement of purpose, sporting a tight, tinny drum machine pattern, an awkward but undeniably catchy synth bassline, and Barry Dobbin's equally detached yet playful vocals. "Love & Pain" and "Outlines" -- which features great lyrical asides like "the better you look, the more you see" -- are also fun, remarkably well-written songs with hooks that are introduced and followed by more hooks. Most of
Clor's wit comes from how the band's comically stiff, synthetic songs are about the weird science of looking for love. Quirky fusions of the clinical and emotional pop up on "Dangerzone," "Hearts on Fire" (on which Dobbin notes, "You found your way into my thought machine/You're beating out the rhythms that I need"), and -- most spectacularly -- "Magic Touch." Sounding like an improbable hybrid of
Prince and
Gary Numan with oddly funky synth bloops, a skeletal electro beat, and lyrics like "I'm wearing clothes that get me noticed/They get me noticed in a good way," it comes across as a sexy, prowling song written by an especially detail-minded computer or a robot. Occasionally, the band deviates from its formula, as on the disjointed rocker "Stuck in a Tight Spot," which manages to be catchy despite the fact that its lumbering guitars and keyboards seem to be spliced from two completely different tracks.
Clor even go acoustic on "Gifted," an unusually reflective ballad that, along with the pretty recriminations of "Goodbye," is reminiscent of how ably
Clinic used to switch from quirky rock to effortlessly lovely slow songs. Even if
Clor sometimes seem too kitschy for their own good,
Clor is an appealing debut with a sound that may not be exactly new, but is fresh and fun. ~ Heather Phares