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VON KLAP: Dog

Genre: ‘unclassifiable’ –- a bold statement indeed from Von Klap, a group complete with a piano-accordionist, a new album that goes by the name ‘Dog’, and a sound that is, against all odds, very Kiwi. Here’s a classification: drunk-pirate-accordion-rock. That is to say, of course, that Von Klap’s ‘Dog’ is undeniably different. When it seems every other band is myopically toiling to achieve widespread distribution and commercial radio play, Von Klap seem to strive for the opposite, with lurching rhythms, inebriated-poet-esque vocal deliveries and arrangements that sway from fringing on brilliance to threatening to tumble from the starboard bow. Don’t misconstrue that last statement as one of negative connotation; this album is a fully realised wander down a musical alleyway that few have the mettle to follow, so strap on your booze suit and get ready for some half rock, half sea-shanty, accordion-driven aural disorientation. But that’s what it’s all about, and for that you will love it or hate it. The song to sum it all up is Hag, two minutes forty five of slagging off an aging woman performed in the mode of rock-meets-Jack-Sparrow. Recorded, mixed and produced by Ben Edwards with the band at The Sitting Room in Christchurch, all in all this is quite brilliant, drunk-pirate-accordion-rock, and I enjoyed it immensely. But that doesn’t mean you will.

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