We first stumbled across London Garage/Psych band The Kumari in early 2013 shortly after the release of their debut 45, 'Fall In Love With The Sun', on Heavy Soul Records and had our minds blown by it’s gorgeous 60s West Coast inspired psychedelic swirl. Fast forward to the now and the years in between have seen the release four more excellent, critically acclaimed 7” singles on an assortment of very cool psychedelically inclined indie labels and a rapidly growing fan base from live shows on London’s thriving Psych scene. Now hooked up with the strange and beautiful Metal Postcard Records, 2018 sees the release of their long awaited first LP………….The Kumari’s self titled debut is a collection of eleven 60s/early 70s inspired Neo-Psychedelic songs, mostly previously unreleased except for a handful of the best tunes from the singles, that are short, sharp Psych Pop gems that have faint echoes of the groovy bands who were part of the 80s Psychedelic Revival along with other newer bands such as The Higher State, Sonic Dawn, Green Seagull and The Orange Drop…………………quite a contrast to the current trend of Psych bands sounding like Hawkwind, NEU! and Sonic Youth fighting in a sack.
The Kumari are dab hands with a Psych Pop tune with their songs stripped of any excess baggage, clocking in at around the 3 minute mark and brimming with pop smarts. The Kumari’s roots are deeply embedded in “classic” Psychedelia/Garage Rock that brings together the Nuggety goodness of the first psychedelic era, early 70s post psychedelic fuzzed out Rock and the 60s revivalists from a decade later but with a twist of modern Psych Rock to keep The Kumari relevant and not a living museum dedicated to all things retro. Nearly five years in the making, this LP is a distillation of their influences/inspiration as The Kumari navigate their way through 50 years of groovy psychedelic sounds, mixing spiky modern Psych Pop with jangly guitars and heady vibes straight outta the 60s and the fuzzed out, squally mayhem of the best Garage Rock bands ……………….effectively this is a snap shot of where the band are at early 2018 and no doubt this record makes up the bulk of their current live set. Drop the needle on side one of The Kumari’s debut LP and the Eastern influenced swirl of the band’s calling card, ‘Kumari’, drifts from your speakers and hangs in the air like the finest hashish smoke before the hectic Glam stomp of ‘Space Witch’ snaps you out of your reverie. The rest of the record twists and turns through two sides of the many hues across the psychedelic spectrum taking in, among other great tunes, the Byrdsian ‘Girl Don't Exist’, the twisted heavy rockin’ ‘Bring It Back’ and their very cool debut single before closing with the barely controlled chaos of ‘Outro’………….it’s a trip People.
Due for release on Metal Postcard Records very soon (March maybe?????), the self titled debut album from The Kumari will be available on vinyl or as a digital download……………keep ‘em peeled for an official release date and any info about pre-orders.
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