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Kagoule: Rhythm, Noise, And Melody

Kagoule

Energy is not a problem for the post-rock wunderkinds in Kagoule

The innovative music that Kagoule plays on Urth, its debut album, will leave you reeling. Catchy pop tunes are graced with skillful arrangements that move from quiet acoustic folk melodies to slabs of bracing, almost metallic guitar noise. Because of its quirky rhythms and post-rock attitude, the trio—guitarist/songwriter/vocalist Cai Burns, singer/bass player Lucy Hatter and drummer Lawrence English—is often compared to the bands of the British and American underground that created alternative rock. But, like its music, Kagoule’s sound can’t be easily pigeonholed.

“The influences change every day,” says Burns. “It could be a new band, a key change in a Beethoven song, a kettle whistling on the stove, some words you hear your neighbor say. We never thought about ‘a Kagoule sound’ too much. It naturally appeared through playing together over our teenage years.”

The band members just turned 20, but they’ve been playing together since they were 15. They quickly moved from covers to composing fractured originals that bring to mind the experimental bands of the ’80s and ’90s.

“I never listened to much music from the past,” says Burns. “We discovered the Pixies and Smashing Pumpkins after being compared to them in the reviews of our fi rst shows. From then on, I got obsessed with ’80s and ’90s guitar music. I don’t think I left my room for weeks after discovering Dischord and Touch And Go Records.”

Kagoule recorded its debut live, all playing together in one room, to capture the relentless power of its music. While the band is happy with the result, Burns is perhaps most pleased that its gigs are more energetic: “We dance and move and get all up in your face. After the song is over, you can then touch our faces in return, unlike the album. Come to our live shows!”

—j. poet