(((O))) : Kitchie Kitchie Ki Me O – Are You Land or Water

Released on January 22, 2016 via House of Mythology

Kitchie Kitchie Ki Me O have had something of a difficult run on their way to creating Are You Land or Water. They evolved from The Midnight Creeps, the the more rock oriented side-project of Norwegian indie royalty Madraguda’s Robert Burås, after he passed away in 2007. Their self-titled début record in 2011 was a critical hit that seemed like a minor miracle after being borne of such tragedy. But then their studio burned down and their label got took over, causing main songwriter Alex K to almost give up on music altogether. Are You Land or Water very nearly didn’t come into being at all: it may be a loosely mythologically themed concept record but parenthesised song titles like ‘Fire Birth’ and ‘The Voyage’ could well be about the band themselves.

Inspire by the myth of Frederick Barbarossa who, according to legend, sleeps in the caverns beneath the Kyffhäuser hills awaiting a time when he can awaken and rule the Germanic countries once again, Are You Land or Water is not as cohesive a record as its concept suggests. A departure from the straight forward rock found on their début it feels more like a compilation built around around the two vocal led songs, ‘Going Forth by Day’ and the title track, that sit at the heart of the album. The first two tracks are instrumental numbers: ‘Barbarossa (Fire Birth)’ a shimmying 3 minute slice of pulsating basslines and electronic beats and ‘Saleph (The Voyage)’, a sprawling krautrock tinged jam. The final two tracks also eschew vocals altogether: the organ saturated laid back psych number ‘Kyffhäuser (The Path)’, which sounds more like it was written about the desert than the German hills, abruptly cuts off to give way to ‘Europa (First Light)’, a dramatic and darkly beautiful ambient number that stretches towards the work of artists like Eluvium and Nils Frahm. Then for the final minutes it slouches into a sad cabaret as it suddenly becomes a low key cover of Sam Cooke’s ‘Smoke Rings’, a melancholic croon over a lonely droning organ. It’s a stark and unexpectedly moving ending.

Between them sit the two vocal numbers. ‘Going Forth by Day’ would be the obvious single if KKKMO were still bothered by such things, but instead they tack on 3 minutes of auto-tuned voice that recalls Bon Iver’s experiments in the area, and which appear after a moment of silence as if another song entirely. Before that strange coda a hushed baritone reaches for profundity (“What’s your name? What’s your name?/It’s nothing, it’s all the same/All beauty must die”) over moody bass and driving rhythms. It’s like a more bass-led version of The National covering Nick Cave, with a slight 80s post-punk flavour. ‘Are You Land or Water (The Deluge)’ utilises a different vocalist – further adding to the lack of cohesion – and is the sole track that resembles the KKKMO of the first album. A slow burning rock number that after a gradual take-off soars into an majestically messy crescendo, it suggests the record may be heading to more traditional territory before the jams resume on the following track.

Not that the jams are bad – all 6 songs have their merits and are each, individually, worth a listen – but they don’t really feel like they’re from the same record, and barely at times the same band. It makes sense that following it’s tumultuous gestation Are You Land or Water feels like the work of a band rebuilding itself and forging a new identity – in their case mostly in shuffling, almost tribal rhythms, insistent bass, propulsive bass and wandering guitar lines. But it makes for a disjointed listen. It’s full of wonderful individual moments that are sequenced strangely – it makes me want to get out some editing software to cut the main 5 minutes of ‘Going Forth by Day’ into its own song and to isolate that achingly sad cover of ‘Smoke Rings’ to listen to without having to go through to the whole of ‘Europa (First Light)’ to get to it.

Alex K has spoken about the cave obsession of his that inspired much of the record – of water receeding and opening up unseen tunnel systems. It’s these unexplored depths that give birth to such sleeping myths, the idea that in one of these chambers never seen by human eyes there lies a slumbering king or god waiting to awaken. For KKKMO you get the sense of a band still exploring, still wandering, and for whom the water is still receding. Are You Land or Water is an interesting collection of songs in its own right, but one that suggests there’s more to come once the water has drained and they find what lies sleeping in the caves below.