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Written
by Larry Robertson, posted by blog admin
Hailing
from Israel via Oklahoma, Bat-Or Kalo has taken an improbable route to musical notoriety
and her band KALO continues to make significant strides towards increasing
their profile four releases into their run. Their latest studio album Wild
Change is a familiar mix of blues and R&B with some funky elements thrown
in, but KALO continues to refine their approach with each new release and their
growing chemistry as a live act shows no signs of hitting a wall anytime soon.
They’ve attracted attention from some of the pre-eminent blues practitioners
working today including no less than one of British Blues Boom’s pivotal
figures, bandleader and harmonica virtuoso John Mayall. They’ve headlined and
made the bill at various festivals scattered throughout the United States and
exhibit a discipline for road work that, frankly, is required for a band of
their ilk to be successful on the modern scene.
The
energy level stays high throughout much of Wild Change. The opener “One
Mississippi” illustrates that energy well with swagger and swing in ample
measure. Drummer Mike Alexander and bassist Mack McKinney lay down a steady and
fluid foundation that’s recorded in such a way they practically come leaping
out of the speakers. “Isabel” is much more about guitar heroics and Kalo is certainly
up to the task of laying down some loud, blistering electric blues. Her singing
voice is more than capable of matching the instrumental intensity, but you
never feel like she’s placing her voice in direct competition with the guitar. Instead,
performances like this seem like she wants one element to complement the other
and they do so magnificently here. “Upside Down” really sets things on fire
with a wild, assertive vocal from Kalo and huge swing courtesy of the rhythm
section attack. The inclusion of brass in this song plucks it from the realm of
the blues and, instead, sounds the album’s first R&B influenced moment. This
is easily one of the best songs on Wild Change.
The
title cut isn’t too shabby either. Kalo definitely lights things up on “Wild
Change” and locks her voice in, early on, with the arrangement’s instrumental
grind. It’s easily one of Kalo’s best singing performances on the new album and
she throws herself into the track with the sort of reckless abandon fans of
this genre always admire. Kalo’s blues chops get their most vivid work out yet
on the slowburner “Only Love” and, especially, the second half becomes a first
class exhibition of her skills as a soloist. “Bad Girl” is Wild Change’s last
shot of over the top electric blues rock and it scores in a big way. While the
subject matter and attitude may not be new to songwriting in this vein, Kalo
belts the song out like she’s the first person to sing about this stuff. There’s
no self-consciousness at all. There’s none anywhere on Wild Change. KALO is one
of the best bands reclaiming blues tradition for a new generation working today
and it’s, in part, because of the work of bands like this that the form will
continue to endure.
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