Kalle's World Tour - Start

Year of Release: 2005
Label: n/a
Catalog Number: n/a
Format: CD
Total Time: 41:16:00

The hopefully-named Kalle's World Tour is the project of Danish drummer Kalle Mathiesens, and Start was released after the band's extensive tours in Europe, eastern Europe and Russia.

Mathiesens has recruited singer Marie Ingerslev to take the forefront - and her vocals define the entire CD. Imagine a Judy Garland-era singer with a mid-range, limited-range voice, with a wonderfully rich melodic timbre, singing simple melodies. Got the picture? Now insert modern instrumentation. It is clean, well produced and light with lots of acoustically-styled guitar work, soft keys and plenty of room to breathe. Mathiesens claims influences of Kate Bush, Frank Zappa, John Zorn, Radiohead and the Bulgarian Womens Choirs. Well - it's a bit progressive, though it isn't really rock - the style is old-fashioned very approachable song-oriented upbeat pop ballads with interesting structures and modern proggy and occasional avant garde sensibilities.

Ingerslev's singing comes across as a bit pitchy in parts, although that may be because of an often unconventional melody line that would strain any delivery. On track 5 "Humor" she seems to be struggling with a difficult melody line, although her delivery remains as relaxed and as smooth as a 1950s jazz hall. The biggest issue is with the lyrics. On the one hand some lines are cleverly constructed to be understood in both English and Danish. E.g.

Come blood bleed hair
Kom blot blidt her

On the other hand, so many of the lyrics seem to be meaningless words developed to carry the melody.

With songwriter and lyricist Mathiesens being a drummer it's no surprise that the heaviest component of the music is his drumming, and his delivery is very strong, although the target audience for this style of music probably won't appreciate quality percussion. The guitar work is understated and never flashy but nicely executed, and accounts for some of the nicer moments on the record.

Track 8 "Come Blood" is a simple but frantically paced minute and twenty seconds with comedic inserts lending it a circus atmosphere. The instrumentation on tracks 5 and 6 are pleasing, and closing track "Jeg Har Stjalet Denne Sang" has a soft jazzy feel to it and features nice but brief interlaced guitar and synth solos and pleasing choirs of overlaid Ingerslev vocals. There's clearly strong musicianship here. It isn't immediately evident because of the simple, linear nature of the music. But within it's style, this is very well executed, nicely produced and an overall pleasing listen. The stylistic differences between songs are slight and after several spins many pieces seem to roll into one another.

Across the board Start offers a laid back, somewhat unconventional yet somehow familiar ambience that invites you to close your eyes and wallow in a kind of musical mood that is all too rare for most progressive rock fans.

Tracklisting:
Start (4:46) / No (4:50) / Normal (4:25) / Be (4:01) / Humor (5:36) / Tango (3:15) / Capitalist (4:25) / Kotelet (1:21) / Come Blood (4:45) / Jeg har stjalet denne sang (4:08)

Musicians:
Kalle Mathiesens
Marie Ingerslev
Peter Muller
Kim Matzen

Discography:
Nu (2003)
Start (2005)

Genre: Other

Origin DK

Added: October 4th 2005
Reviewer: Duncan N Glenday
Score:
Artist website: www.kallesworldtour.dk
Hits: 2643
Language: english