Klen is my introduction to the freakbeat side of British punk and I’m absolutely hooked. Their latest single Compendium/Consortium is a dizzying, hypnotizing experience with an edgy groove that’s impossible to resist. They’ve captured the right amount of balance between grittiness and reverb, giving the song a foreboding and sinister mood that leaves a lot of space for the song’s satirical message to cut through. Its disorderliness is bound together by a tight rhythm section that’s so in the pocket that it seems ready to spill over at any minute but it never does. They managed to skirt the line so effortlessly that it feels exciting.
Narratively, Compendium/Consortium depicts a board meeting for a multinational consortium and painting it as a clown show that it quite often is. The big wigs are scheming, engaging in debauchery, stabbing each other for position and using corporate jargon at every single turn to look good. All this while the people working below them and the customers they supposedly serve are given the short end of the stick.
Klen has a definite charm and assured confidence that bleeds through the speakers. People have been raving about their live shows online and it’s easy to see why. Klen has the best qualities of punk embedded in their DNA.