Icelandic blues rock band, KALEO is back with their sophomore album, Surface Sounds. Released in late April, it's a brilliant record, it is KALEO through and through. It is their best work since debuting in 2015. KALEO is made up of members of lead vocalist and guitarist JJ, drummer David Antonsson, bassist Daniel Kristjansson, lead guitarist Rubin Pollock and harmonicist Þorleifur Gaukur Davíðsson.
Surface Sounds is a fantastic record, definitely one of the best of 2021. It opens with "Brother Run Fast," which begins with light, cheerful piano notes, but goes quickly into the deep & heavy lyrics we know KALEO for and ends in an intense crescendo of sound, a perfectly set introduction. "Break My Baby" follows, a tune straight out of an action film. It's powerful and swoon-worthy, opening with a riff upbeat & strong. "Alter Ego" is track number 3, and it's exciting. It's possibly one of the best of all of Surface Sounds. It's a song that makes you think of the wildness of Aerosmith & yearn for the sweetness, freedom, and intensity of the hot, long summer ahead of us.
"Free the Slave" is next, a powerful and deep track, one with a killer riff right after the first verse that wakes you up. "Skinny" follows - a heavy track that could be interpreted in many different ways, from mocking society's expectations, to being angry at an ex, and to being heard as a warning to today's young adults as to be yourself and not succumb to pressure to be perfect, a message to be kind and true. It's a complex track, and one of my favorites off of this record.
"Hey Gringo" is a fun track, an upbeat break from the previously intense & heavy tracks. It's about the singer falling for a woman, but she happens to already belong to another person, a fact he had no awareness of. It's got a raw, real sound to it, something noticeably different from the rest of the tracks on Surface Sounds. "My Fair Lady," follows, a slow track and a heartbroken one as well. It's about yearning for another person to come and be with you, for yearning to be touched & for an abolishing of all your worries.
"I Want More" is about wanting an ex-lover to come back to you and taking on all of the brightness & darkness of life together once again. "Backbone" comes next, a slow and beautiful emotional song about not knowing where someone is, what they're doing or how they are. It is about missing someone you loved deeply and wanting them back into your life.
"I Walk on Water" is a song about believing in yourself, about empowering yourself. It is slow at the start, but climbs up and surely reaches an upbeat, motivational sound, getting you to believe in yourself. It is saying to have faith in yourself, to carry yourself into lightness and once you reach that, share it with the world. "Into My Mother's Arms" is the last track on Surface Sounds, and it sounds very much like how we started with "Brother Run Fast," opening with cheerful piano keys and going into heavy lyrics & sound. It is a hauntingly beautiful track, about not being able to face the world, but you can always find comfort in your loved ones, such as a parental figure like your mother.
This album is one to listen to and experience alone firstly, then invite a friend to join you and soak in the artful masterpiece that is Surface Sounds together. My favorite tracks are "Alter Ego," "Skinny," and "I Walk On Water."
Surface Sounds is the music that inspires movies & acts of love, and it empowers you. It's everything you could want in a rock record: instruments such as violins & piano, emotional lyrics & sounds, the occasional fun track amidst all of the heavy, and lastly, messages of hope & healing.