The Klittens' 'Have A Heart' Is a Bracing, Big-Hearted Masterpiece of a Debut
The Klittens have been circling this record for years — two EPs, Citrus and Butter, and a long run through European indie rooms — and Have A Heart arrives with the confidence that buys you. Thirteen tracks, two of them pointedly subtitled: “Blue Hue: A Short Plea” and “The Frame: A Short Complaint.”
The Sonic Breakdown
The Production & Mix
The Low-End: Yulya Divakova recorded the album at GAM Studios and Schenk Studio, with Emiel de Nennie capturing the percussion on three tracks, and Mikey Young mastered it — a name that reliably signals a mix left with its edges on. Marrit Meinema’s bass is the engine; Far Out’s Aimee Ferrier singles out the “energetic bassline” driving “Bank Account” against its “calm cheeriness.”
The Spatial Dynamics: Katja Kahana and Winnie Conradi both play guitar and both sing, and the arrangements are built on that doubling — two guitars that interlock rather than stack. Arie van Vliet adds violin. Raven Sings the Blues describes the blend as “a mix of ’90s riot-adjacent hooks, 80s post-punk rhythms, and a lit match of activism.”
Standout Performance
Laurie Zantinge, who drums and sings, and whose playing on “Taxi” does the heavy emotional lifting — Ferrier hears the “upbeat drums” setting up a dichotomy “rooted somewhere between uncertainty and acceptance” against a lyric about dependency. Yaël Dekker takes lead vocals and moves from stripped-bare to textured without sounding like she’s switching modes.
Why It’s Certified
Because the range is real. “Nothing To Teach” opens out into collective vocals; “Blue Hue: A Short Plea” is gentle and reflective; musicOMH’s John Murphy calls “Badlands” “an exhilarating slice of raw energy” and the album as a whole “a confident, assured debut that promises even greater things to come in the future.” Ferrier, scoring it 4/5, puts it best: “each track has this magnificent ability to take you somewhere that you didn’t even know you needed to go.” Raven Sings the Blues says the long wait “pays off handily,” then ends with an instruction worth repeating: “miss this low-flying treasure at your own peril.”