“Mum always used to drive me over when I did my solo recordings with Simon, and both of them were really supportive, even insistent, on us doing a collaboration,” Kaul reveals.
However, Kaul admits that when fusing Lam’s electronic inclination with her predominantly soul and jazz background, there were definitely some hiccups. While artists like Etta James, Aretha Franklin and Amy Winehouse had the biggest impact on Kaul and defined the way she wanted to sing, there were a few minor disagreements in the beginning. “There were things we threw back and forth and were not entirely keen on, but you can’t love everything, right? Overall, I think we’re more impressed at how well we work together; I don’t think we thought it would be this good.”
Indeed, their music is good; their debut EP Cusp is already receiving wide airplay and garnering bucket-loads of positive reviews. It’s five songs long, and given the pace Klo have set off at, the singer confirms it’s a collection of almost everything they’ve written to date. “We played our first show not long ago, and what we played there was pretty much everything we’d put together. I think there’s one song that didn’t make the cut, but everything else has literally been what we’ve created.”
As for their sharp, single-syllable title, a quick Google search of the term, Klo yields some visually interesting results. But Kaul’s no stranger to this news, and is now at peace with the oversight.
“We looked it up and let’s just say, we didn’t look into it enough,” she laughs. “We thought it was just someone’s idea of a joke, that they’d just posted something stupid on Google. Then when we released our song, and it was out there, people started to write comments saying things like, ‘Hey guys, great song you’ve got, but just letting you know that your name means ‘toilet’. So we looked it up, and yep, it was a mess. The boys thought it was hilarious; me, not so much. I’m just hoping no one throws toilet paper at me.”
There’s probably a dunny-related analogy that could be employed here, but however you cut it, Klo isn’t slowing down. They’re featuring on some major festival bills in the coming months, including a handful of Melbourne Music Week showcases, Strawberry Fields and Paradise Music Festival, but the one Kaul is looking most forward to is Beyond the Valley, happening for the first time this New Year’s Eve.
“That will be great fun; I’m so pumped, but it’s quite nerve-racking as well, just because it’s the largest one,” she says. “We’re so new and we don’t have a variety of songs to choose from; we’re creating them as we go. So for me, I’ve had to stop doing a lot of other stuff in my life and focus on music.”
Joining Klo at two of their forthcoming festivals is Melburnian producer Oscar Key Sung, who Kaul says is a great inspiration. “He’s a phenomenal dancer, and he mixes electronic with R&B so well,” she enthuses.
Speaking of R&B, Kaul says listeners can expect a healthy dash of the genre in Klo’s next release. Though broadly speaking, she insists there’s little intention to stick to specific styles or genres. “It’s more about making a good song,” she clarifies. “We’re constantly changing direction, and hopefully it’s a good thing.”
BY IZZY TOLHURST
