Next Wave #680: KLOE

Warped production and nostalgic vocals...

The next big thing to be churned out by Glasgow’s conveyer belt of quality music is peroxide blonde upstart KLOE. Since having moved to the capital, however, she refuses to diminish her home city’s influence. “It’s the craziness of a night out with my friends that I miss – those memories keep me going amidst all the writing and touring in London.”

Nightlife is at the root of her appeal, mixed in with the wide-eyed nostalgia of Lorde and the bleakness of pre-‘Beauty Behind The Madness’ The Weeknd. It’s the latter that has proven a lasting stimulus on her own brand of after-hours anthems. “Lorde made it cool to be uncool again but The Weeknd is instrumental in me becoming KLOE,” she admits. “He makes singing about sex and drugs sound beautiful.”

You can hear it in the isolated, trap-lite production, but don’t get it twisted – KLOE’s lyrics aren’t as debauched, even if they do hint at the seedier effects of partying. “It’s not all fun and games, you know? Being young means being crazy, but there comes a point when you feel the loneliness, and it dawns on you,” she says.

KLOE is raw, and her unfiltered observations extend to the Twitterverse. “Sometimes,” she begins, “I’ll look back at what I said and wince! Yet I am wholeheartedly me, it’s not done for shock tactics, and it actually feeds my songwriting.” It’s true; KLOE’s real-time cyberspace persona feeds into her lyrics, brimming with Internet colloquialisms, very much in tune with the demographic she writes her music for. “I’ve got nothing to hide. I hate it when artists distance themselves from their fans, like it’s Jesus and his disciples. It’s important for me to be an open book and not a fraud.”

What’s clear is her five-tracked ‘Teenage Craze’ EP is only a taste of what’s in store, a transitory step towards a stronger avowal: “I’m constantly growing as a writer, my sound is bigger, I’m navigating the music industry, and I have some stories to tell.”

When asked what she would tell her younger self, her sentiment is plain as day: “Stay away from boys in bands because the industry is just like high school. Be yourself and fuck the rest!”

WHERE: London via Glasgow
WHAT: Weeknd-esque warped production and nostalgic, girl group vocals
GET 3 SONGS: ‘Touch’, ‘Grip’, ‘Teenage Craze’

FACT: She’s a dab hand with a bow and arrow, describing herself a “good archer”.

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Words: Shahzaib Hussain
Photography: Samuel Bradley
Styliing: Justin Hamilton

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