Meanwhile
Klone bring more weight back into their spacious rock sound on Meanwhile. The French band still give melodies time to develop, but the heavier guitars make the quieter passages feel more purposeful. It is an album built around patient changes in pressure, with Yann Ligner’s voice providing a strong connection between its different moods.
“Within Reach” makes that approach clear. Its restrained opening gradually becomes more forceful, with the drums growing busier and the guitars gaining distortion. Ligner can move from a softer delivery to a powerful chorus without making the change sound forced. The song introduces an album where the heavier moments usually grow from the arrangement rather than interrupt it.
The production helps that balance. Chris Edrich gives the instruments weight while leaving enough space to hear the individual parts. The bass has a particularly useful role, adding movement instead of simply following the guitars. Even when the music becomes dense, the details remain clear enough to hold attention.
“Blink Of An Eye” offers an accessible route into the band’s more unusual arrangements, while “Scarcity” lets the softer textures stay in focus. These songs do not rush to show everything they contain. Their appeal comes from a vocal line, a change in the rhythm or a guitar part gradually becoming more noticeable within the wider sound.
The later tracks add some welcome force. “The Unknown” combines melodic atmosphere with stronger guitar work and an effective shift in its final stretch. “Disobedience” is more direct, using firm rhythms and heavier playing to give the second half a push. Those songs show how much the album gains when its gradual builds lead somewhere decisive.
Not every passage earns its length. Several tracks use a similar slow-building shape, and the mood can become too uniform across the whole record. The title track contains interesting contrasts, but its extended development also tests the patience that the rest of the album has already asked for.
Meanwhile succeeds through the quality of its singing, the care in its arrangements and a convincing return of heavier sounds. A little more variety in pace would make it stronger, but there is plenty here for listeners who enjoy atmospheric rock with real physical weight.
