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Kamera's sophomore release Resurrection manufactures
a selection of tranquilizing synth-pop melodies and pumped up
electro-pop mixes with many common factors relatable to '80s new
wavers like Squeeze, The Pet Shop Boys and Yaz,
and new wave revivalists like She Wants Revenge, Hundred
Year Storm and Autovaughn. The songs are melodically
beautifully and pleasing, and definitely geared for commercial
use in television, film, and dance clubs. Coming from Stockholm,
Sweden, Kamera shows European sensibilities in their dance music
similar to DJ David Guetta and Dj Tiesto. While
America's youth flock to the Vans Warped Tour to bond together,
Europe's burgeoning music fans gravitate to Ibiza's Rock Festival,
an island off the coast of Spain each summer which showcases the
latest and most impressive purveyors of dance club/electronica-pop
music, and Kamera's album is absolutely perfect for this crowd.
Produced by Björn Öqvist, Kamera also credits
techno DJ Markus Schulz for tinkering with their tracks
to make them more appealing by infusing them with digital beats
and dance club atmospherics which underscore the bubbly rhythmic
pulses of "Like A Drug" and the softly breathing synth
motifs of "Love Surrounds Us." Schulz and Björn
Öqvist avoided making the songs too disco-sounding and kept
the band's organic underlying guitar melodies intact, such as
in the case of the rock ballad "Another Side Of Love"
and the exciting guitar solo of "Lost Control" which
is comparable to some of Rammstein's work. The flange in
the rhythm guitar parts of "Disconnected" has a semblance
to Shout Out Louds, and the energetic dance club atmospherics
of "I Was Made For U" have the uplifting impetus of
DJ David Guetta's music. There is an aerobic momentum in this
track which cools down to a warm spacey romantic simmer on "I'm
Gonna Be Your Lover." The number "Fragile" has
emotive inflections that are sonically imbued like the UK's XTC,
and "Lies" is pound for pound melodically phat with
chord directions relatable to Squeeze.
Resurrection, Kamera's follow up to the band's self-titled
debut release in 2003, is an extension of new wave pop and dance
music. Some tracks are just made for easy listening and others
have an impetus streak that puts the listener in the driver's
seat and makes them want to go. Band members Joakim Hjelm (vocals),
Lotus (guitar), Kit Balance (bass), Nico
(synth), and Carl DeLorean (drums), gear the tracks for
wide commercial appeal. And even though their music echoes of
European influences, the album has an overall world music sound
that transcends such partitions.
-Susan Frances
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