Kid Klumsy – Fair Dooz EP

There’s a ‘Brechtian punk cabaret’ trio called The Tiger Lillies whose songs are dark, often beautifully sorrowful and macabre vignettes of life. There’s a parallel between them and Kid Klumsy – an air of the sideshow or sad carnival. But where The Tiger Lillies evoke a smoky, jazzy, decadent burlesque vibe with their accordion and stand-up bass and drums underscoring an operatic falsetto, Weab and company deliver full-on jaunty power pop punk that’s irrepressibly infectious, however dark or gritty the lyrical themes.

This EP is bookended with a couple of slices of fairground barrel organ-like waltz time riffing – an Intro that evokes a sleazy Victorian fairground feel that feeds gloriously into the frantic ska punk of Coconuts – a litany of modern day freaks (“Hobos driving round in Mercedes …”) that juxtaposes our fascination with the historic freakshow with modern tropes. Revolution is more mainstream melodic punk thrash over which the band unleash a sermon on modern living. SFW is a mellowed out, bass bubbling groove while Media returns to what might be considered the classic KK sound – heavy guitar and battering drums. Lyrically it’s a tirade on negative body image and the impossible ideals set by the media (“she wanted breasts like in the magazines”). Rise (this reviewer’s favourite track on this outing) recombines Weab‘s vocal partnership with Rachel Reeves who featured on the band’s contribution to the Yesterday’s Not Here project. Rise is a swooping and menacing groove, swooping from chugging verse to battering chorus. The barrel organ reprises for the Outro, overlaid with Weab‘s sinister ringmaster’s farewell and the sound of a school bell and excited children.

All in all, a Tales of the Unexpected release from one of punk’s hardest working and prolific outfits. A band with no fucks to give, no pigeonhole to fill – just gloriously idiosyncratic and slightly unsettling and that’s why we love them. Recommended.

The Fair Dooz EP is available on CD via STP Records and via streaming platforms