London, UK, this humble reviewers birthplace and home of legendary stoner/doom and psych event Desertfest is, when compared to places like Portland, USA, Malmo, Sweden and Athens, Greece, not the hotbed of "underground" rock some might think it should be. There are plenty of bands from around the UK's capital ploughing a stonerized furrow through the scenes fuzz soaked fields but not that many claiming to be an actual "London" band so it's with a gladdened heart that Desert Psychlist introduces you to London's Kujara, Joe Flaherty (bass & vocals), Will Milne (guitars) and Steve Wood (drums), and their brand new EP "Three Days".
"Three Days" begins with "Intro" a brief montage of string hits, pedal effects and shimmering percussion that builds to a noisy crescendo before segueing into the next track..
"Dead Behind The Eyes" opens with Flaherty laying down a deliciously distorted bass motif that is then joined by Wood's insistent drums and Milne's heavily fuzzed guitar. The songs shifting mix of heavy staccato riffs and stuttering rhythms are perfectly augmented by Milne's blend of palm muted and openly chopped chords, the guitarists warmly fuzzed tones combining with Wood's titanic percussion, Flaherty's grizzled bass and clean slightly alt/grunge vocals to create a groove that is both delicious and highly addictive.
"Tryptych" starts life all "Pablo Honey/The Bends" era Radiohead before shifting into a groove sitting somewhere between the alt/grunge of Stone Temple Pilots and the desert fuelled stoner/psych of Kyuss. managing to find a sound that incorporates elements of each into their groove yet still managing to create something fresh, exciting and totally their own.
"Pitfall" sees Kujara blending into their heavily psyched stoner refrains touches of Alice In Chains-like alt- rock atmospherics and vocal melodies, the band mixing it up between passages of dark moody grunge and raucous stonerized hard rock, utilizing quiet/loud/quiet aesthetics both vocally and musically to ramp up the songs dark seductiveness.
Title track "Three Days" closes the EP and finds Milne laying down sparse gently sweeping licks and arpeggios over Wood's lightly brushed percussion and Flaherty's low booming bass. The tempo slowly increases with the trio locking into a slightly lysergic groove before the bassist/vocalist enters. his smooth clean voice, mellow and relaxed at first, becoming louder.stronger and more strident as the groove develops. Suddenly, without any warning, we are thrown into a riff heavy doom tinted stoner jam with Milne and Flaherty chopping out their now familiar stuttering riffs superbly supported by Wood's thunderous drumming, the three musicians taking things to a gloriously noisy and fuzzed out conclusion!
Kujara have, with "Three Days", made an EP that will not only please those of us from their grey concrete hometown of London but one that will be appreciated internationally too.
Check it out .....
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