Emerging from Amsterdam’s underground scene, The Klittens have spent the past six years building a reputation as a DIY band capable of pairing sharp-edged indie (post-)punk with an instinctive, playful approach to songwriting and performance. Sometimes rough. Sometimes soft. But always honest. They simply tell it how it is.
For fans who have been tuned in since before the release of their debut album, Have a Heart should not come as much of a surprise. The project, which consists of 13 fuzzy yet jangly tracks, does not rely on gimmicks, sudden surprises or major musical detours from their earlier discography. Instead, the band use their first full-length release as an opportunity to deepen and refine the audience’s understanding of their music.
Opening with the titular track, The Klittens kick things off with a gritty, upbeat punk-rock rhythm, while the rest of the band chime in around lead vocalist Yaël Dekker. The song pleads for empathy, repeatedly asking listeners to “have a heart” before dissolving into a wave of sonic dissonance. That tension between abrasion and tenderness becomes a recurring pattern throughout the album, with moments of chaos repeatedly giving way to something softer and more delicate.
The Klittens seem able to cut through the noise they themselves create, not by being louder or doing more, but by doing quite the opposite. They move between emotional extremes without attempting to smooth over their contradictions. Instead, they embrace them, both sonically and lyrically, showcasing their versatility while still remaining anchored in the genres they draw from, ranging from country and pop to post-punk.
These shifts keep the record thrillingly unpredictable, but at times they also make it difficult to fully settle into the individual songs. Some transitions arrive before a track has had the chance to fully sink in, which can make the album feel more immediately rewarding as a complete body of work than as a collection of standalone moments. Still, this criticism does little to undermine how fully realised the record feels overall.
If anything, that sense of openness and immediacy may trace back to The Klittens’ origin story and to what makes both the band and their sound so distinctive. The group was initially formed by largely untrained musicians who were aware of their technical limitations, yet remained committed to making music as a means of expressing their political and personal beliefs. Their DIY ethos was rooted not in perfection, but in the idea that music-making itself should remain accessible.
Even as that political foundation has since been woven into a broader desire to explore the rockier and poppier ends of the musical spectrum, the band have not lost their edge. That original ethos still feels deeply embedded in their writing, with critiques of society continuing to surface throughout the lyrics, albeit in less overt forms.
This becomes most apparent on songs such as “Bank Account,” which revolves around anxieties surrounding self-presentation and self-branding under capitalist pressure, or “Nothing to Teach,” which, put simply, functions as a lo-fi anti-mansplaining anthem.
Ultimately, Have a Heart asks listeners to look beneath the surface and find meaning in the spaces between its contrasts. The album’s softer moments, of which there are plenty, allow the band’s tenderness to come to the foreground. Songs such as “Taxi,” “Fool Me Once” and “Blue Hue” make the album not only an outward-facing plea, but something closer to an inward-looking confession.
Or perhaps even an open-ended question: what does it actually mean to have a heart? With all its complexities, of course.
Across 13 songs, The Klittens offer no definitive answer. And maybe that’s the point.
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