Manchester-based alt-rock trio I Am Kloot's fifth long player is sentimental, elegant and drenched in booze, falling somewhere in between the autumnal twilight of the Clientele and the streetlamp glow of Richard Hawley. Sky at Night unfolds over a rainy, world-weary United Kingdom, and vocalist/guitarist John Bramwell, who delivers his lines with appropriate amounts of wit and worry, can sound like an English Willie Nelson, especially on the pub torch song “To the Brink.” As fellow northern Englanders, Elbow members Guy Garvey and Craig Potter know the landscapes that Bramwell and company draw their inspiration from, and the duo’s simple, reverb-heavy production work lends added weight to album highlights “Northern Skies” and “I Still Do,” resulting in a stormy, soulful and nuanced collection of late-night last spins that get better with each rotation.
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