"follow into the sun / follow into the sun..."
Like 5 different jigsaw puzzles, with bits of each fitting together making a whole albeit abstract image, the mercurial sound of "Pisces" by London's and Brighton's (UK) Karma Quartet, is a blossoming piece of art that at time falls in on itself. An emotional blend of non lexical vocals as musical textures, melancholy (even tormented) piano, a mournful bass and drums dance, fluttering sax as beautiful and dramatic as it needs to be, many other subtle but potent ambient sounds, cymbal flairs and vocals that feel as much meditative as declarative. "Pisces", maybe part tears falling into alcoholic drinks, maybe part celebratory dance, maybe part eulogy, all speaks to me while not speaking to me at all. I am only a bystander after all but these very emotionally drawn sounds, alluring like an abstract black and white film does haunt me.
LINER NOTES (bracketed):
[Written by keyboardist Adam Ash after a vivid dream about losing a father, the track ebbs and flows like the tides - lapping atmospherics give way to driving rhythms and soaring harmonies. Sax lines weave through effects-drenched textures as the intensity builds to a thunderous climax, like the turbulence of waking from a lucid reverie. "Pisces" encapsulates our expansive, genre-blurring sound and poetic lyricism and fusion of post-rock, jazz and breakbeats.]
Karma Quartet is amazing and "Pisces" will surely shape shift each time I listen to it, it is that kind of song, a sonic Rorschach test.
MORE LINER NOTES (bracketed):
[Formed in 2020 by Adam Ash (Wax Machine) (keyboards, synthesisers, vocals) and Marko Marsenic (Ayman Sinada, Neue Grafik Ensemble, Lucy Tun) (saxophones, synthesisers), Karma Quartet initially emerged from a collaborative beat-making project. During the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, they communed over their mutual passion for jazz and Electronic music, crafting tracks by exchanging stems via email. Rory Murphy-Cload (drums, vocals) (Town of Cats) joined them to help bring their music to life in a live setting, the quartet completed by Tim Curtis (Honeyglaze) (bass), whom they discovered at a jam night in Hammersmith. In 2024, Karma Quartet is set to unveil their debut EP, Make or Breakdown a captivating voyage through moody spaciousness, drawing inspiration from a diverse range of influences including Puma Blue, John Coltrane, and Radiohead.]
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://www.instagram.com/karma.quartet/
https://toulouselautrec.co.uk/etn/karma-quartet-make-or-breakdown/
https://www.facebook.com/Karmaquartetfb
https://www.youtube.com/@karmaquartet7422
Hailing from London and Brighton, Karma Quartet craft an expansive blend of soulful UK Jazz (Jazz UK), Post-Rock, and Breakbeats. For three years they've been actively performing and improvising across London, honing a distinctive and immersive sonic experience. Their performances feature a fusion of Breakbeat/jazz rhythms and improvisation, ethereal effects-pedal layers of saxophone, and crystalline vocal harmonies, spanning ambient soundscapes and driving, bass-heavy climaxes. Alongside their Karma endeavours, they also host a monthly jam session at The Fortune of War on Brighton's seafront.
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