Buzzin Pop Music

Melody Klyman – Sovereign – album review

Melody Klyman, hailed by the press as the next big thing (Time Out magazine tipped her for big things in 2009), released her album Sovereign back in October, and always a sceptic of hype (…or always behind the times), I feel the time has come to take a good look at the album.

Klyman, as with most alternative female artists, attracts copious comparisons with Kate Bush (though not with Björk, surprisingly), whose influence she happily states. But her rich background also shows a host of other influences on her music.

Melody Klyman is a classically trained pianist from Canada. She sings and writes for successful dance artists under an alias. Surprisingly Klyman had a deal with a major record label before dropping it after feeling treated ‘like a product’.

With Blackwing Records, an independent UK label, she found a place to express her influences in her own way, though to say she sounds as alternative as the likes of other contemporary female artists like Bat For Lashes would be misleading. Sovereign is full of glossy electronic production, recognisably dance-esque vocals and tunes and emotive arrangements. The most alternative thing about Sovereign is the protest song ‘Hunt of the Innocent’ against the slaughter of seals in Canada.

Of course there are resonances of Kate Bush on Sovereign – that snare on ‘Never Stay Away’ or that vocal hook on ‘Cold As December’, but this is an entirely different, and much more 21st century take on it. Melody Klyman sounds like a mainstream artist wanting to put her name on a piece of work for the first time, rather than always being a contributor for others.

The title track ‘Sovereign’ pulsates at the beginning (I keep expecting to hear Freddy Mercury shriek “Flash! A-aaa!!!”) before Klyman’s harmonies project the song into one of the best arrangements on the album along with ‘Trigger Me’ – two cold and bare productions with complementary drumming and thin synths.

Melody Klyman also appears quite the rock-chick at times: ‘Magic’, the end of ‘Cold As December’ and ‘Caught’ are really reminiscent of the early 21st century nu-rock. And, to her credit, she does a really good job of incorporating all of these styles into her own. The big drums and distorted electro mixed with her jerky melodies make for quite a strange take on Kate Bush.

It is too soon to call Melody Klyman the next big thing, but she certainly has a chance of breaking the mainstream with these songs, and with her confident, bleak electronic pop, she would probably make it a better place.

This is her MySpace page, and you can find out more about her on her website.