Casiokids are one of those bands who I’ve always been aware of but have never really heard anything of. It turns out that there is good reason for this as, although their debut EP was released way back in 2007, they’ve only had one previous full LP, 2010′s Topp Stemning På Lokal Bar, which never found its way on to shelves in the UK. So, technically speaking, Aabenbaringen Over Aaskammen is their debut album over here and it’s pretty good. January never seems to throw up many outstanding albums and Aabenbaringen Over Aaskammen isn’t going to change that but it is a highly competent offering if sometimes seeming to lack a structural coherence.
Opener and title track ‘Aabenbaringen Over Aaskammen’ is an instrumental and radically different to anything else on the album, with a gentle swirl of synths, brass and wind instruments gradually fading in to the sound of birdsong. It serves as a gentle appetiser to the rest of the album, which begins proper with the lead single ‘Det Haster!’ It’s a great little tune this with a muted and distorted opening before bursting in to clarity with a pulsing bass line and feathered synths. Meanwhile the high, soft vocals add a layer of calm over the hive of activity beneath. Next up is ‘Dresinen’, which kicks things off with a pretty funky, wiry guitar line and then brings in a bass line that wouldn’t sound out of place as The Inbetweeners’ theme tune. ‘Dresinen’ comes next with its feathered synths and an almost ‘club lite’ style drum beat but it’s the first track where you really think that the vocals could do with just a touch more strength to them.
The next few tracks are nice enough but won’t set your world alight. ‘Olympiske Leter’ is a nice gentle number, a sort of ballad for the electric generation, ‘Dr. Tarzan Monsoon’ is another purely instrumental track while ‘Selskapets Triste Avslutning’ does its best to build and build to a busy conclusion. It’s not until we reach the album closer ‘Aldri Ska Me Ha Det Gøy’ that we get another track that could potentially be a single. It’s a lovely delicate track that gets the right balance of gentle, high vocals and the soft drums and synths.
It’s a shame really that Aabenbaringen Over Aaskammen doesn’t that structural coherence that I mentioned at the start as, when it’s good, it’s really very good. The opening three or four tracks all merit repeated listens but through the rest of the album Casiokids jump around a bit between varying different styles and what’s left is just a collection of songs rather than a complete album.
