Lola Kite – Lights

The Dutch don’t do electropop. They might think they do, but no matter how many ubercool 30 year old-keyboards and drumcomputers they acquire, the result is always unremittingly rocky and American. So critics who label Lola Kite’s debut album as electro must be Dutch themselves and by golly they are. In reality the Amsterdammer’s of Lola Kite have created an interesting mix of College Rock and New Wave/Post-Punk Revival music (not to be confused with actual New Wave). Now if someone tells me I’m wearing an interesting blouse, that usually means that they wouldn’t want to be caught dead it in it, but in this case I really mean it as a recommendation.

You don’t have to be a follower of the Amsterdam musicscene or attend the Lights release party to notice a musical link between Lola Kite and Moss. Openingsong Numberone may start all synthy, the song soon reveals a spacious and repetitive quality comparable to that of  I like the chemistry. Bassplayer Jasper Verhulst, who’s a member of both Lola Kite and Moss, must at least be partially responsible for the similarities. Together with the two other members of Lola Kite, Keez Groenteman and Bram (I refuse to call him ‘The Bramster’) Vervaet, Verhulst recorded Lights way back in 2009 on Vlieland, the island that was created as a venue for the Great Wide Open. It all sound’s very, very Dutch, like that bandname, the pun that no-one outside of The Netherlands will get. Everywhere else the band would have been called Kiët Doke. Which isn’t nearly as catchy.

An interesting feature of Numberone is that, like many songs on Lights, it lacks an proper chorus but still manages to be exciting. The carefully constructed foundation of the songs compensates for the shortage of melodic variation and saves Lights from being a dull listening experience. It reflects an approach to songwriting that has bugger all to do with Depeche Mode but instead reminds me of R.E.M.’s jangly pop.

After a strong start of the album it trails of a bit in the middle with mediocre songs like Edie, Action and On your side. All the best bits are saved for last, when the eighties sound library is driven to the background.  2010’s single Different Story is Lola Kite’s candid calling card and together with current single Everything’s better show the band from their strongest and most radio friendly side. The River, is from a musical place somewhere between Iron & Wine and Racoon, both in sound and credibility. At the Gate is a six minute attempt to do a trippy Pink Floyd-kind thing that miraculously works for me.

Recently there have been numerous good examples of bands adding synths to guitarbased pop and ending up with something larger than the sum of its parts, unfortunately Lights is not one of those examples. Never do the synths add an edge, seldom do they fit in nicely into the rock compositions and in some cases, like on the intro of the song ironically called Action, they even make promises that the songs don’t deliver. The only song on which I feel the marriage works is on the closing song to the album Slow Cat. A mystic ending to an album that will be liked by many, but loved by few. Like the Dutch, really.

●●●●●●●○○○ 7/10

Tip: It’s already on Spotify.