Mo Klé - Parallel Worlds (CD)

The first album by the artist Mo Klé aka René Grünenfelder will be released on October 29th. With Parallel Worlds, the Swiss songwriter releases a guitar-driven record that combines haunting harmonies with pointed lyrics in English and German. Before that, on October 15, he will release the album's title track as a single.
The album begins with Parallel Worlds. Soft acoustic guitar chords are accompanied by Grünenfelder's signature voice. The band only joins in after the first verse and expands the folk song into an indie pop song. In the song, Mo Klé reflects on the stark differences in our living environments and how absurd these different realities can all too often seem to us. Sometimes they cross each other. Most of the time, however, we only see ourselves confronted with them through our screens. In the maelstrom of devastating reports and crises in the world, it is difficult not to sink powerlessly into indifference and to hide behind the walls of one's own living environment.
The opening track, Parallel Worlds, sets the benchmark for the entire LP. Grünenfelder and the band have created songs that have a strong organic character - not polished pop songs, but pieces with rough edges that show the band's serious craftsmanship and joy in playing. Even if the songs come with more pressure thanks to the larger instrumentation, the essence of the song was always the focus during the recording. It was important to preserve the original idea that Grünenfelder developed on the acoustic guitar. The result is modern folk and Americana, in which classic and new elements are mixed: guitar riffs reminiscent of Dire Straits, an unmistakably sounding organ and reduced acoustic guitars are just as much a part of the record as synthesizer effects. This musical red thread runs through the whole album.
Lyrically, as in the songs Parallel Worlds and Boomerang, Grünenfelder records his observations of the world and world events and attempts to place them in a larger context. The play A Land To Call Their Own is about the myth of the American dream and discrimination against Afro-Americans. Be My Judge describes struggling with self-doubt. The One revolves around the expectations of one great love and the disappointment when everything evaporates. Grünenfelder becomes self-ironic and satirical in Self-Criticism and the German play Sunday morning.
The single Parallel Worlds will be available on all download and streaming services from October 15th. The album of the same name will follow on October 29th. The album is available on vinyl and CD in stores and on Timezone Records. The single and the album are released on their own label Horse Behind A House Records, which Grünenfelder brought to life.

1. Parallel Worlds
2. Be My Judge
3. The One
4. Boomerang
5. A Land To Call Their Own
6. Love In The Time Of
7. Self-Criticism
8. Sunday morning