I wasn’t really expecting to like this. Kaleida are described as electropop, and most modern electropop seems to involve co-opting a dance music style that was hot in the underground a few years ago, watering it down, slapping an uninteresting vocal over it, and marketing it cleverly. Whatevs, right?
Well, it turns out that [cheesy voice] I don’t actually like this… I love it! For one thing, Christina Wood has a great voice, rich and versatile and emotional without being showy. For another, Cicely Goulder seems to really get minimal: every synth part is a masterclass in what you can achieve with a few clicks and bloops, and many of them are dead catchy too; and her production is ace. I can’t really put my finger on why, but somehow everything just gels perfectly for me. It’s, like, dance-pop music that I could actually see myself dancing to — fancy that, eh?
There are some gloriously infectious touches in some of the more upbeat songs, like pitch-bending synth harmony in All The Pretty Pieces and bassline in Division. The closing title track is a lovely ballad, swooshing strings and piano and a suitably epic vocal. Extra props, also, for the quietly ominous cover of Nena’s 1983 smash hit 99 Luftballons (and let’s all hope that its nuclear war protest message doesn’t become any more relevant than it is already…).
I bought this from Boomkat. They call it Electronic.
dogrando writes about some records 