Some time ago one of the readers here suggested I do a “then and now” feature to compare and contrast a new act with one from yesteryear. Well, strictly speaking both of the acts featured here are old acts since Clor split up in 2006 after just one album. I’ve pitched them up against early 1980’s act New Musik who produced some delightful synth-pop records at the beginning of the decade.
‘World Of Water’ wasn’t their most successful song (’Living By Numbers’ charted at no. 13 in the UK) having only reached no. 31 in the singles chart but it’s my personal favourite. Led by the songwriting talents of Tony Mansfield - as you can see from the video - their awkward, nerdy image is allied to some irresistible pop. I’m still not sure the vocal effects on the chorus were a good idea but otherwise this is a lemon fresh pop song, possessing all the innocence, melody and geekiness of the best music from this genre at the time.
As I mentioned, Clor only managed one album before splitting up but it was a very promising effort. The arty pop of ‘Outlines’ shares the same cute pop values as ‘World Of Water’. I particularly like the lyric “Each of us is special in our unique way”; a sweet and old-fashioned line that again draws on the innocence of a bygone age. They also shared that same nerdy image in their promos although it’s arguably rather more mannered than New Musik’s style.
Further Reading/Listening:
New Musik MySpace
Unofficial New Musik site
Clor on Wikipedia
Clor MySpace
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