No. 8 - Kaelan Mikla, Kaelan Mikla (2016)

(Over a series of twenty short posts – one per week for the remaining weeks of this decade – I am aiming to highlight in vaguely chronological order some of the most important and influential releases in the goth/post-punk/darkwave genre of the 2010’s).

13^th May 2015. A video crew from Berlin-based not-for-profit music collective Orange ‘ear arrive at the Gaukurrin bar/venue in Reykjavik to film a young local trio, Kælan Mikla, whose energetic live performances shared on YouTube had begun to create a bit of a stir.

The beautifully lit video for the song Kalt that resulted from the session begins with a visual focus on the unusual synthesiser of Margret Rosa, a recent gift from a boyfriend which had one broken key raised from the keyboard. The apparently slightly ramshackle nature of the band is reinforced twenty seconds later when Solveig Matthildur launches the main bass riff, slightly out of tune from the synths and occasionally slightly off the beat too, playing Hooky-style eight-to-the bar to drive the classic darkwave beat forward. As is often the case in the post-punk genre, the music builds slowly and dramatically for exactly a minute before vocalist Laufey Soffia prepares to sing her first note. The listener is pinned back as Laufey Soffia‘s vocals begin, an angry half-spoken shrieking that is in equal measures Poly Styrene punk rock shouting and other-worldly banshee howl. With their youthful energy, impeccable punk look (dark lipstick on pallid complexions, multiple piercings and studded collars) and angular sound, Kælan Mikla had truly arrived, and this video, uploaded to Vimeo and YouTube the following month, became one of the word-of-mouth viral post-punk successes of the decade, eventually reaching 300, 000 views by January 2018 and attracting the patronage of Robert Smith. The Cure’s lead singer invited them to play at the Meltdown Festival which he “cureated” in London, which brought them to more mainstream attention, with the result that the video passed the notable milestone of one million views earlier this summer.

For all their low-fi charm, Kælan Mikla had already existed as a gigging band for several years by the time of the Kalt video (many of these incredible gigs were uploaded to and are still available on YouTube), but the recent acquisition of the faulty keyboard had resulted in a crucial change of direction which has ultimately resulted in them becoming one of the key players in the global post-punk revival this decade. The band had originally formed as a slam punk riot grrl posse in 2013, winning an event held at Reykjavik city library, and working up a series of songs based solely around some punk/funk basslines and Margret Rosa‘s energetic drumming. These were recorded with Alison MacNeil but not released at the time, although the band’s subsequent success saw the songs belatedly available last year on the Manadans album. Lead track Lítil Dýr gives an indication of the band’s early sound, a whispered dream-like opening sequence suddenly developing into an upbeat fluid bass-dominated garage backbeat, with Laufey Soffia‘s piercing scream presaging a ferocious rant that is as thrilling as it is unsettling, and vaguely reminiscent of the aural schizophrenia of Siouxsie and The Banshees’ Eve White/Eve Black. Whilst many bands hide their earlier, more amateurish recordings away when they become more famous, Kælan Mikla played a very active role in ultimately bringing these visceral songs to market, and as well as revealing the band’s genesis they stand as excellent tracks in their own right.

Back to 2015 though, and the Kalt video. Turkey’s Fabrika Records, home to scene darlings Selofan, Lebanon Hanover and She Past Away see the video and immediately sign the band to the label and the trio begin to record what will ultimately become their debut album, with a re-recording of Kalt and some other early tracks along with new songs, now all re-worked to feature the new influence of the keyboards and, crucially, a drum machine backbeat now that Margret Rosa is now employed elsewhere in the band. Listeners drawn in by the immediacy of Kalt’s classic darkwave sound were treated to a broader canvas of sounds, with Myrkriᵭ Kallar featuring the lush coldwave synth layers which have become their trademark, with Laufey Soffia’s shrill vocal offering atonal counterpoint to the melody. The varied and accomplished album was a clear signal that although the band remained true to its riot grrl punk roots, there was a crossover potential that other sonic terrorists (such as Switzerland’s The Young Gods) have often struggled to achieve.

This was certainly the case on the 2018 follow-up album Nott Eftir Nott, which includes recent video single Hvernig kemst eg upp, with the group moving away from the more aggressive and sparse arrangements of the earlier albums to arrive at a fuller, more dance-orientated sound more reminiscent of latter-era Xmal Deutschland or the spoken-word synth soundscapes of (criminally under-rated in the UK) 80’s legend Anne Clark, whilst maintaining their commitment to singing in their native tongue and always retaining the ability to shock the listener.

Having spent their early years hauling their instruments on public transport to self-arranged gigs, the band has recently completed a US tour (a rare achievement for an alternative band these days given current visa arrangements) as their fame continues to spread. Although ploughing their own furrow musically initially, although Kælan Mikla have retained their individuality, their sound is now more in tune with other bands on the post-punk scene, and their ability to share a bill with anyone from Idles to She Past Away will help them to pick up more fans as they continue to grow, becoming one of the alternative scene’s biggest names in the process.