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I Am Kloot

Ninety-nine percent of all unsigned bands are unsigned for a reason: Because they’re terrible. In the same way, if a band’s discography includes three full-length albums and you’ve still never heard of them then there’s probably a reasonable explanation: They’re likely too weird, too experimental, or too untalented. Maybe they’re Canadian.

In the case of I Am Kloot, though, there’s really no excuse. Since 2001, this Manchester three piece has been making the kind of records that hipsters tend to go Franz Ferdinand over, yet they still maintain a tragically low profile. Their music is haunting, melodic, and about as catchy as strep throat.

With Gods and Monsters, their third LP, they stand a good chance of changing all that. Singer/songwriter Johnny Bramwell has obviously been sitting on some A-material. IAK’s sonic palet is still limited to the traditional rock’n’roll hardware, but they’re doing a lot more with it than they did on previous records.

On “No Direction Home,” Bramwell sounds like a more pensive Robbie Williams singing through a cheap microphone, but even that shouldn’t disqualify him from the superstardom that he and his band so sorely deserve.

Link: I Am Kloot official site

Listen to this band and each week’s SPIN.com Bands of the Day on the SPINsider Podcast! For more about the SPINsider, visit spin.com/podcast or click here to launch iTunes.