Kallai – We Are Forever
Kallai returns with another excellent release that will immediately resonate with anyone who appreciates cleverly written, thoughtfully composed, and flawlessly performed music. “We Are Forever” is their debut full-length album, arriving after a self-titled extended play released last year. Heavily promoted with “Falling” and “The Wave,” two excellent compositions that vividly showcase what you might expect from this material, “We Are Forever” carries eight marvelous tracks that will unquestionably satisfy even the pickiest listeners. The band wrote the entire material in a span of two months, so lyrically it explores the turbulence of life in a time of rising authoritarianism against while pointing out the beauty and joy found in community and self-awakening. It tackles socio-political themes, but also deep dives into various sentiments, moods, situations, and circumstances, making it a highly relatable material that will resonate with the broader audience. Kallai are known for their experimentations with various approaches, directions, techniques, and music genres, and on this particular collection of songs, the band expertly blends all of them in order to depict a lush sonic imagery. Perhaps you’ll notice how shoegaze dominates the most, as all the fundamental elements of this genre lurk around from start to finish, but the band incorporates some of the finest properties borrowed from dream pop and post-punk. These styles suit them well, as they craft calm, soothing, relaxing, ethereal, otherworldly, mesmerizing soundscapes, immediately wrapping around the listening apparatus and transporting the listener to a completely different realm. Kallai expertly incorporated all those qualities that meet the trends of modern music production, yet there’s a subtle touch of nostalgia lurking around and evoking the eighties and nineties, eras when shoegaze, dream pop, and post-punk music scenes thrived and ruled the airwaves the most. Therefore, all these experimentations with various styles, techniques, directions, and approaches resulted in a collection of catchy, memorable, engaging, hypnotic, addictive, and irresistible songs that will not only resonate with shoegaze fans but anyone who appreciates music performed straight from the heart.
Photo courtesy of the band.
This epic sonic voyage commences with “The Hymn / The Beautiful Ones,” a perfect introductory piece that vividly showcases what you might expect from the remainder of the material. Kallai demonstrate their tremendous songwriting and composing abilities by crafting a colossal ambiance, based upon luxuriant chord progressions and riffs, intricate basslines, excellent drumming performance, and profoundly melodic vocal harmonies. The generous servings of reverby, echo, and delay further elevate the cave-like ambiance, making this track such a fascinating introduction to a thrilling sonic journey. “Amor Occidit Omnia” dives deep into the fundamentals of post-punk sound, with all those vividly hearable, warm-sounding, intricate basslines and well-accentuated, flawlessly performed rhythmic sequences, reverby chord progressions and melodies, and another marvelous vocal performance that contributes emotional depth and more complexity to an already intricate structure. This style suits them well, as the band delivers one of the finest modern post-punk songs in recent years. “Protector” is more than a rock-solid proof that these experienced musicians are masters in crafting ethereal, cinematic, dream pop tracks, adorned with all those heavy shoegaze moments. Each upcoming soundscape seems like a logical move, further improving and extending listening pleasure to the max. The way those tender moments transform into raw, heavy, powerful segments goes beyond comprehension so many times during the entire track. “Another World” merges everything you ever needed from shoegaze, dream pop, and post-punk music. You’ll notice how all those thoughtfully assembled interplays between guitars shape a perfect backdrop for all the vocals to shine upon. The vocals shine in the limelight with all those whispery yet commanding harmonies balancing low, mid, and high notes with such precision and finesse. In the meantime, the complex basslines offer more warmth, heaviness, clarity, and depth to the song while the steady, flawlessly performed beats, breaks, fills, accentuations, and other percussive acrobatics cut though the calm ambiance, providing more groove and pace. Like in their previous tracks, Kallai slowly builds a soundscape that immediately penetrates your ears and refuses to let go long after the last notes and beats end.
https://youtu.be/c0WP-CmzOj0?si=HiMGaUWPHzc3ji3r
“Always/Never” is another standout from this material. You’ll be immediately pulled into a whirlwind, built upon fuzzy riffs, warm low-ends, moderate rhythmic patterns, but what makes this song so memorable is the vocal performance. You’ll hear how all those beautiful harmonies levitate around, uplifting the song to an entirely new level, commanding attention, and contributing emotional depth to an already luxuriant ambiance. In the meantime, particular segments of the song resemble something noise pop bands would eventually record, but Kallai showcase their signature moves here by fully stacking this track with more memorable themes, melodies, harmonies, and other sonic delicacies. If some song could explain how dream pop should sound nowadays, that would be “The Wave.” As a first standalone single that announced this album, it showcases all the experience, knowledge, creativity, skills, and talent of these brilliant musicians. The song seamlessly levitates between the eighties and contemporary dream pop sound, but ti still carries some of the finest properties borrowed from alternative, indie rock, and showcase. It’s nearly mindblowing how Kallain incorporated all these styles together without overwhelming the initial sonic direction. “Falling” is another perfect track that combines lush dream pop and shoegaze soundscapes with post-punk aesthetics. With a powerful, groovy, dynamic rhythm section acting as a backbone and lush guitars serving as a backdrop, the marvelous vocal performance floats around, making this composition even more appealing. This epic sonic voyage ends with “As Night Falls,” another longevious composition adorned with cinematic soundscapes, luxuriant layers, majestic instrumentations, and other orchestral decorations that define Kallai’s tremendous, fascinating, ethereal sound. It’s a perfect closure that sums up everything Kallal’s sounds stand for, and one of those tracks that will immediately convince you to spin “We Are Forever” all over again.
“We Are Forever” is a shoegaze masterpiece that not only showcases Kallai’s brilliant ideas and marvelous musicianship but also redefines the genre by incorporating many fresh, unique, innovative moves that will undoubtedly become a staple on the scene. Their tremendous experience, knowledge, creativity, talent, and skills are on full display here, as they deliver one of the best shoegaze albums in recent years. Kallai deserves your utmost attention because their music breaks all the rules and shapeshifts the boundaries. Therefore, head to your favorite streaming platform and check “We Are Forever” out!
https://youtu.be/8GhUd_7-bXc?si=4m7TkzrvufMG7xTo
https://open.spotify.com/album/601RANmw5QscpB2niyO4GA?si=VfZJbdzsQGmZtswQmAX-gQ
#DREAMPOP #KALLAI #MUSIC #POSTPUNK #REVIEWS #SHOEGAZE
Photo by Travis Shinn
Photo courtesy of the band.
Photo by Marieke Macklon
Photo by Ed Sozinho