Kaleida by Benjamin Hampson
It has to be exciting for a musical act that’s barely a year old to get a song placed in a feature film. Now imagine that movie is the original John Wick, and that’s a hell of a career start for the electro-pop duo Kaleida.
Their sparse, catchy “Think” sets the tone for Keanu Reeves’ titular hitman as he shoots his way through a nightclub, executing mobsters by the bunch in retaliation for the killing of his beloved pet beagle. This “gun-fu” sequence from 2014 was so iconic that for the 2017 Charlize Theron action flick Atomic Blonde, Kaleida again provided soundtracking — this time an even sparser, moodier German-language cover of Nena’s “99 Luftballons.”
But Kaleida shouldn’t be typecast as songs to watch good-looking actors kill people to. The tandem of keyboardist Cicely Goulder and singer Christina Wood — who met by e-mail and formed the duo in London — make music that alternates between dance fuel and existential worry. “Think,” along with its Wickian pedigree, is trademark Kaleida: club energy folded into a melancholy bop with a quietly desperate lyric.
There’s a muted quality to Goulder’s synth-work on “Aliaa” as Wood floats sharp, observational couplets: “ ’Cause the fight that you won you will never own/It’s for the ones who go unknown.” Even on the celebratory “Ruby,” with its Giorgio Moroder throb and classic drum-machine clap, Wood sings wistfully.
They’re no longer newcomers riding a surprise breakout; Wood and Goulder have an impressive catalog of work and soundtrack credits extending into the 2020s. They’re also both mothers, with lives and obligations often taking priority over music.
Thankfully, the collaboration endures. Kaleida’ newest album, 2024’s In Arms, features ten dark, addictive songs that could liven up any movie scene, with or without mayhem. Wood recently told Electricity Club that the album relates just as much of a story as any big-budget feature film, with the songs “all connected” and the music becoming thematically “clearer, bigger, more colorful.” Amazingly, considering this region’s dance-music ties, Kaleida’s upcoming show at Respectable Street will be their first ever in Florida.
Kaleida and special guests perform 8pm Saturday, February 1 at Respectable Street in West Palm Beach. kaleida.bandcamp.com ~ David Rolland
