Klaxons - Surfing The Void Review

Posted by Adam Hill on 09.03.2010

Three years and numerous false starts after Myths Of The Near Future, Klaxons finally release follow-up, Surfing The Void but is it brilliant, a mess or a bit of both?




1) Echoes
2) The Same Space
3) Surfing The Void
4) Valley of the Clam Tees
5) Venusia
6) Extra Astronomical
7) Twin Flames
8) Flashover
9) Future Memories
10) Cypherspeed



”Echoes”

It is often said that there is a fine line between genius and madness and with Surfing the Void, their long-awaited follow-up to Myths Of The Near Future, Klaxons have one foot firmly planted either side of it. Surfing… is an album of contradictions full of dizzying heights and deep deep lows that begs the question, ‘if this is the version the label approved, what on earth had previously been rejected?’

Hopes are immediately raised as opener “Echoes” swells like a hot-air balloon before exploding into a spine-tinglingly-good chorus that deserves nothing less than a full stadium, hands in the air, feet jumping, singing it back to the band. Klaxons set the bar high from the start but therein lays the rub, as their ability to reach it again is sporadic.

“Extra Astronomical” is the sort of fare you would expect to hear from a bottom of the bill, support act at a local gig, one that had been booked because they were quirky and different, not necessarily good. If it were a dog it would have been taken out back with a shotgun and put down a long time ago.

Klaxon’s experimentation with hip new indie drug, Ayahuasca, while writing Surfing… has been well documented and this, coupled with their ongoing obsession with the celestial and infinite nature of the cosmos, has sent them and us on a journey through space and time to new (not so much nu-rave) worlds.

Some, such as “Venusia” are lush, wondrous places filled with Bowie-esque hooks and swirling, atmospheric synths. Others, such are “Flashover” are hard, industrial planets. Complete with an incessant, mechanical, pounding that stirs the very depth of your soul, charges your adrenaline and demands that you jump and dance along before gently dropping your spent carcass to the floor for the spaceship to take you onto your next destination.

But for each of these incredibly crafted and enjoyable locations on the trip, there are those that are barren wastelands, piled high with trash and mess but no cute little robot to clear up and make sense if it all. “Cypherspeed” is an insane, hectic track that seems to sum up the whole album with moments of genius, the pseudo Lloyd-Webber style chorus, and moments of utter confusion. Like the album, it jumps about all over the place without any real clear direction before ultimately reaching a destination entirely different to the one you thought you had set out for.

Repeat listens and perseverance will be rewarded but you will, in all likelihood, find yourself going back to the same few tracks each time and skipping the rest.

The 411: The most frustrating thing about Surfing The Void is that when they are good, “Echoes”, “Venusia” and “Flashover”, Klaxons are capable of producing some of the best indie-dance-pop you will hear all year. Unfortunately though when they are bad, “Extra Astronomical”, they are no better than your average unsigned indie band. Three years after their debut they have come up with a mess of a follow-up, albeit a sometimes brilliant one.

Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]