Clue to Kalo

Clue to Kalo's third album is an ambitious pop record. The Adelaide, Australia-based band wrote ten songs, each telling the tragic story of fictional character Lily Perdida from the perspective of the people in her life: family, friends, lovers and passers-by. Musical mastermind Mark Mitchell and Ellen Carey trade lines back and forth in both musical conversation and off-kilter unison, recalling boy-girl duos like Mates of State or the Postal Service's "Nothing Better." But sonically, Lily Perdida is all over the map. Each song can stand alone without the context of the other nine. Mitchell and his seven-piece band venture into Arcade Fire gang vocals ("User to a Carrier, By the Sister") and Stereolab grooves ("The Infinite Orphan, By the Familiars") while keeping a foot firmly planted in electronic folk. But this cycle of heavy-hearted pop tunes is spiritually reminiscent of '60s concept records like Pet Sounds and Odyssey and Oracle — fun and heartbreaking all at once.