The Karman Line – TKLEP01 (Self-released)
The Karman Line is a Cork duo that filter their love for acoustic guitars and catchy arrangements through their accomplished grasp of electronic music. TKLEP01 is their first commercial release and comes with artwork that represents the music perfectly.
It’s an attractive rural scene with light and dark shades, if only the seated girl was holding a Powerbook. The first track, ‘Time’, could throw you off how the rest of the release sounds, it’s a nice dance floor number but I preferred the later, more involved tracks as ‘Time’’s electro house appeal is based around a much more commonplace arrangement, even if it does open very well and features an appealing vocal.
‘Light and Day’ pulls off some neat tricks in pacing repetitive elements until they nearly annoy and then rewarding your patience with sunny sounds and uplifting shifts in direction. It also features an obscenely catchy processed vocal that’s been bouncing round my head for days.
‘Salka’ contains similar dynamics and also explores chopped and looped acoustic guitars and knocking break beats mashed with synths into something bright and optimistic. In making music that attempts to take you from where you are to somewhere brighter, The Karman Line are to be applauded as it can be very difficult trick – success can vary depending on how cynical you’re feeling – but if it’s a sunny day, these might be just the job.
The last two tracks work best for me, possibly as they are a little more melancholy, ‘In My Arms’ of all the tracks seems most centered more on feeling rather than production and is the track where all the EP’s ingredients really gel. ‘Olympian’ winds down proceedings, continuing with ‘In My Arms’’ more darker themes.
Taken as a whole, TKLEP01 is bright, energetic and optimistic and will surely will find fans in listeners of cut and paste and pastoral electronic music as well as many other summer playlists.
