It’s Karma It’s Cool are a four piece indie rock/pop band from Lincoln with a thought provoking name and equally thought provoking music. Released on bonfire night, the interestingly named album Homesick For Our Future Destinations is filled with twelve tracks that cover all sort of music genres from rock to punk to indie rock, all with a touch here and there of Americana, country and pop. Comprised of James Styring – Vocals, Martyn Bewick – Guitars, Additional Instrumentation, Mikey Barraclough – Bass Guitar, Additional Guitars, Danny Krash – Drums, Percussion, the band offer up a selection of tracks that centre around musings on what is life, which hang together as a cohesive whole.
Bookended by two instrumental tracks, the album kicks off with ‘All Branches Break In Time’, a song that starts slow and builds into an up tempo song that bops along with loads of danceability and laments the age old issue of passing time and trying to catch up just to stand still. Morphing almost seamlessly into the jaunty melody and beat of ‘Wild Fire Flames‘, the indie rock influences are centre stage here.
The Americana influence makes itself known from here on in, especially with ‘Playing Brave‘ and my favourite song, ‘She Slept with the Radio On‘. It’s the catchiest song on the album (no mean feat, since a lot of them are awfully catchy) and will easily become your newest earworm with just one or two plays. The she of the title appears to be “Elvis’ wife”, a reference I wasn’t expecting when I played the album but works a treat and certainly leads to multiple plays of the track; I’m still thinking about it now. This way with lyrics and song structure is also explored in ‘Guest on a TV Talk Show‘, where an excerpt from an old US TV commercial is inserted about half way through.
Drawing the album to a close, ‘Universe and Us’ is a another Americana tinged indie rock song that leaves the audience in a similar place to where we came in, with the added bonus of wondering about our place in the universe and if indeed “all roads lead back to me”. I’m intrigued to see what this band do next.
The band’s advice for aspiring musicians comes in three parts:
“Be influenced, but always be yourself. Be aware of what’s going on around you, but do your own thing. And do it for the right reasons, because you love doing it – anything positive that comes along after that will be a bonus.” – James
“Do it well, with a smile on your face.” – Martyn
“Take the time to explore how your instrument of choice functions in genres of music you don’t normally listen to”. – Mikey
Homesick For Our Future Destinations was released on November 5 on Koolkat Musik. Get your copy here.
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