Album Review: Claptone – Charmer
2 min read
It is important for a musician’s whole narrative and image to match their sound, and Claptone does this with such class and style in his first full length studio release, Charmer. Each song is as aesthetically pleasing as the last and the title looks to be literal; it’s a clap tone, so you wanna clap your hands along, you wanna nod your head, you wanna dance. It is exactly what you’d expect from a dance release, and also somehow simultaneously a lot more.
In the first 14 seconds of this album, you get a small spoiler free taste of just how brilliant it’s going to be. The song starts with a slow build featuring just a synth all on its own, but its presence is so important. It’s that first 14 seconds of almost creepy sounding synth that sets the mood and tone for the whole album. Charmer is a slow build, because the final track I Write Your Name really embodies everything this album stands for in under 4 minutes.
Ghost however, is arguably the best track on the album. There is something about it, whether it’s because it is quite different to the other tracks, or because its just stylistically beautiful. Who can be sure. Ghost has that Claptone signature beat, but its greatness lies in the raw sounding guitar at the very beginning: it’s almost Spanish in nature. This flamenco inspired guitar flows throughout the track with ease, but it has these really important moments where its soaked in reverb and it’s clear then, that its playing the role of the hook. Ghost is really interesting and even if you don’t like dance music, you’ll probably like Ghost.
Other notable highlights include No Eyes and Puppet Theatre. Both are full of energy, power and life and you literally can’t sit still. No Eyes in particular is really catchy and free, with a hook that you’ll have stuck in your head for days.
Charmer is stylistically quite a unique dance album. It doesn’t only contain your standard dance beats, it’s also full of all these other hidden gems that make it so full of life.
