Based along the Washington coastline, Karl Blau’s sound has finally found its way over to the European shores following the release of his debut, Introducing Karl Blau, last year. Now Karl is back with his follow up, Out Her Space, a record crafted of only the biggest and best tracks to come out of his 20 year career.

Within seconds of opening this album up, its themes are clear: experimentalism from a solo performer who has managed to successfully combine genres which would rarely meet. Throughout the listen you’ll be met with aspects of jazz, soul, folk and the occasional dabble of afro-pop. The record’s opening track, ‘Slow Children’, acts as a nice foundation for the sound to flourish, Karl’s vocals have an inherent twang to them which is both warming, immediately lovable and works wonders alongside the kicked back instrumentals, in a manner which few could achieve to such a capacity.

Karl’s multi-instrumentalism does drive the backbone of the record well, each sound knows its place and achieves its goal without disrupting the rest of the listen. A personal highlight definitely comes in the sporadic solo work in the latter half of ‘Valley of Sadness’, the near jarring sound is capable of turning a rather melancholic track into a colourful burst of intrigue and madness which the album definitely needed to keep its fresh feel continuing.

Some interesting themes can be found within Karl’s music, across his two decade-long career he’s written various material which bounces off different political and social themes. A sizeable portion of the tracks on Out Her Space were written a number of years ago but still remain relevant today. ‘Poor The War Away’ may have originally been written during the George W. Bush presidency, but feels scarily appropriate to today’s political landscape as its themes of ongoing political disruption can probably be seen more now than ever. The harsh poetics and lyricism within the piece drives home a strong message whilst still upholding a nice level of groove and bounce to keep the listen flowing nicely and adding to the album’s collective.

Experimental music always has a sense of unpredictability to it, sometimes landing well, other times not reaching its full potential and the same can be said about one or two of the tracks on this record. ‘Where Ya Goin’ Papa’ may start strong through its use of various horns, solid bass and various vocals which thrive off of Karl’s, but the prolonged ending instrumentals exceeding the five minute mark, only derive and flatten the vibe that had just been carefully created. Likewise, whilst Karl’s voice is a saving grace to this record, I can’t help feeling we still haven’t seen its true potential and power, it feels like there is definitely still something more to explore with the ways he can use his voice, giving the sound an additional edge it needs.

Overall, however, Karl Blau has produced another concise and diverse record which will introduce his unique name to the people of Europe. Out Her Space definitely has the potential to establish his name over this side of the Atlantic, however, will it be one that is revolutionary to the scene? Probably not. If you’re after a brilliantly chilled album to pass the day away or whack on in the background, then you can easily get lost in Karl’s dabbling of interesting issues refreshing uses of various sounds.

Ben Walker

Website: karlblau.com
Facebook: facebook.com/karlblaumusic
Twitter: twitter.com/KarlBlau