Electrical Storm

After the Laughing Clowns imploded, for a final time, in Australia, Ed Kuepper “sort of retired”, he once said, though not really: the songs for his debut album, Electrical Storm, were written during that ‘retirement’, while on his honeymoon. It’s an extraordinary collection: trading in the freewheeling possibilities of his prior band Laughing Clowns for a tight three-piece line-up, including Wet Taxis’ Louis Tillett on piano, Kuepper’s songs here are finessed, no unnecessary gestures, and when he does get expansive, as on the title song, the drama is played lightly, the better to allow the nuances in the writing to shine.