Kikagaku Moyo have announced details of their fourth album, Masana Temples and they have shared the new single “Gatherings” too. “Gatherings” is a psychedelic stew that begins life as a caustic fuzzy blues number and then delves a little deeper into some heavy psyche. A ruminating organ accents the track as it works itself to a fever pitch of guitar squall and resolves on a gentler Los Angeles garage motif. “Gatherings is the oldest song on this record” explains vocalist/drummer Go Kurosawa. “With this song, we’re expressing our journey in the world. We’ve gathered everyone in the band’s ideas in this song along with the ideas and influences of the places we’ve visited throughout our travels.” It would be an understatement to say that I completely dig this track. Check it and the album information out below!
The shifting dimensions of ‘Masana Temples’, fourth album from psychedelic explorers Kikagaku Moyo, are informed by various experiences the band had with traveling through life together, ranging from the months spent on tour to making a pilgrimage to
Lisbon to record the album with jazz musician Bruno Pernadas. The band sought out Pernadas both out of admiration for his music and in an intentional move to work with a producer who came from a wildly different background. With ‘Masana Temples’, the band wanted to challenge their own concepts of what psychedelic music could be. Elements of both the attentive folk and wild-eyed rocking sides of the band are still intact throughout, but they’re sharper and more defined.
More than the literal interpretation of being on a journey, the album’s always changing sonic panorama reflects the spiritual connection of the band moving through this all together. Life for a traveling band is a series of constant metamorphoses, with languages, cultures, climates and vibes changing with each new town. The only constant for Kikagaku Moyo throughout their travels were the five band members always together moving through it all, but each of them taking everything in from very different perspectives. Inspecting the harmonies and disparities between these perspectives, the group reflects the emotional impact of their nomadic paths. The music is the product of time spent in motion and all of the bending mindsets that come with it.
‘Masana Temples’ track list:
1. Entrance
2. Dripping Sun
3. Nazo Nazo
4. Fluffy Kosmisch
5. Majupose
6. Nana
7. Orange Peel
8. Amayadori
9. Gatherings (Bandcamp)
10. Blanket Song
Kikagaku Moyo are:
Vocal/Guitar: Tomo Katsurada
Guitar: Daoud Popal
Sitar & Keyboard: Ryu Kurosawa
Bass: Kotsuguy
Drum/Vocal: Go Kurosawa
Kikagaku Moyo European tour dates:
Nov 07 Manchester, UK – Gorilla
Nov 08 London, UK – Scala
Nov 09 Paris, FR – Petit Bain
Nov 10 Utrecht, NI – Le Guess Who?
Nov 12 Cologne, DE – Gebäude 9
Nov 13 Berlin, DE – Lido
Nov 14 Krakow, PL – Something Must Break
Nov 15 Prague, CZ – Futurum
Nov 16 Leipzig, DE – Transcentury Update
Nov 17 Düdingen, CH – Bad Bonn
Nov 18 Ravenna, IT – Bronson Hanna Bi
Nov 19 Vienna, AT – Arena
Nov 21 Copenhagen, DK – Loppen
Nov 22 Malmö, SE – Plan B
Nov 23 Stockholm, SE – Fasching
Nov 24 Oslo, NO – Bla
Nov 25 Gothenburg, SE – Pustervik
Nov 26 Hamburg, DE – Hafenklang
Nov 27 Brussels, BE – Ab
Nov 28 Lyon, FR – Jack Jack
Nov 29 Bordeaux, FR – Iboat
Nov 30 Barcelona, ES – Upload
Dec 01 Madrid, ES – Caracol
Dec 02 Porto, PT
Dec 03 Lisbon, PT – ZDB
Dec 07 Athens, GR – Fuzzclub
Dec 08 Amsterdam, NL – Paradiso / Indiestad Night
