Taking their name from a Greek brand of cigarettes, The Karelia are best known as the former band of Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos, (then known as Alex Huntley). Releasing one album in 1997, they were all about ballroom swing, jazz and free form rock.
Obviously designed to cash in on Kapranos’ current success, the re-release of Divorce At High Noon is only of interest in that it allows us to chart the progress of one of Britain’s most admired and charismatic front men. For the most part his former band bare little resemblance to his current. As opposed to the new wave and punk sounds filtered through Franz Ferdinand’s debut, The Karelia were heavily influenced by cult 1980s band The Monochrome Set, 1920s jazz and pre-war French balladeers.
Nevertheless, some connection to the Franz Ferdinand sound can be detected. Kapranos’ lyrics are filled with the sort of arch wordplay he would later hone to perfection, and vocally he delivers songs like ‘Divorce At High Noon’ and ‘Love’s A Cliché’ in the same coy manner as ‘Take Me Out’ and ‘Michael’.
For the most part though, Divorce At High Noon is a progressively dull album. The jazzy, smoky bar room ballad ‘Love’s A Cliché’ is a sole highlight amid an album that mostly sounds like the soundtrack to a fifties detective movie, and contains comical choruses like “Everybody loves a loony/Loony’s are so mad.”
As the album progresses it becomes obvious why Kapranos traded musical direction. The Karelia’s weird jazz hybrid grates quickly, and just isn’t very good. Overall Divorce At High Noon is only worth a listen for those interested in hearing what Kapranos was up to pre-Franz, which wasn’t anything worthwhile.