German six-piece Daal Dazed release their self-titled debut EP on Aug. 9 through H42 Records. “Invisible Prison” is the leadoff cut on the three-song outing, and it quickly nestles into a comfortable heavy blues vibe, organ and two guitars interweaving melodic lines behind the vocals of Philipp Staab, who makes his presence felt early in soulfully belting out the lyrics, and in the course of an efficient 4:41, the song sets the Aschaffenburg outfit apart for their clarity of sound amid a horde of fuzz-overloaders, and the subsequent “Freedom” follows suit despite a jammier vibe, ebbing and flowing through semi-psychedelic liquidity, shuffling drums and percussion adding movement all the while. A more weighted groove persists in the chorus of closer “Angel Babe,” though that’s accompanied by a driving punctuation of snare in the verse, so there’s a balance between the build and release of tension as it plays out.

There’s nothing overly fancy happening in Daal Dazed, but the straightforward tack of the songwriting isn’t to be discounted just because it’s not a wash of tone. Rather, Daal Dazed have an all the more classic sound for their to-the-point aspects. “Freedom” is under four minutes long and “Angel Babe” is under three, so there isn’t really much messing around anywhere you look. That’s fitting enough for a debut EP — they’ll grow into their sound and flesh it out over time — but even an early emphasis on crafting their material bodes well for wherever they might be headed next. Nothing against those who want to jam or fuzz themselves into oblivion, but for Daal Dazed, they seem to be shooting for something else, and the focus on songwriting is what’s allowing and what will continue to allow them to get there.

Would that I could be as efficient in language as they are in music. What it rounds out to is the EP is a rocker by rockers and for rockers. You’ll hear classic elements at play with modern production methods and a bluesy spirit throughout. If you need anything more than that to get you through the track, well, the cover artwork also rules, and there’s that organ too.

So have at it, and enjoy:

DAAL DAZED announced their debut release, a self-titled 3-song 12” EP! It’s a raw and bluesy hard rocker featuring bottleneck guitars and a percussion heavy rhythm section.

Available as:
12″-vinyl on clear vinyl with silkscreened ‘Moon’ b-side (ltd. 100)
12″-vinyl on universe black with handsigned b-side (ltd. 120)
download/stream on all platforms

Release will be August 9th 2019!
Presale starts July 9th 2019 via H42 Records.

Invisible Prison starts out as a smooth opener before climaxing into an organ-driven, heavy finale.
Freedom combines funky drumming with Hendrix-esque guitars & vocal delivery!
And lastly, Angel Babe closes the EP with a bang!

Daal Dazed is:
Philipp Bergmann: Drums
Philipp Staab: Vocals
Michael Imhof: Percussion
Julian Kaatz: Bass
Simon Steigerwald: Guitar
Kim Steigerwald: Guitar

Daal Dazed on Thee Facebooks

Daal Dazed on Instagram

H42 Records website

H42 Records on Thee Facebooks

It’s now been about 11 years since Bavarian heavy psych outfit My Sleeping Karma made their self-titled debut on Elektrohasch Schallplatten. One can recall getting that album from the label, with its mostly-white cover, its Eastern inflections, and what would turn out to be a nascent version of their approach that subsequently incorporated themes from Hinduism and Buddhism, drop the idea of vocals entirely, and greatly expand the sonic palette overall while remaining vigilantly consistent in its flow. From 2008’s Satya (review here) onward, My Sleeping Karma have become a considerable presence in the European underground because they’ve proven themselves able to foster their sound into something and progressive and individualized without letting that core groove slip away. Their growth can be charted across 2010’s Tri (review here), 2012’s Soma (review here) — which found them releasing through Napalm Records for the first time — and 2015’s Moksha (review here), which pushed them beyond limitations of genre in a way both natural and driven by an underlying consciousness.

But even that happened while My Sleeping Karma sounded like My Sleeping Karma, and as they’ve come into their own over their years, they’ve begun to have an influence on other acts around them, particularly the psych-jam sphere — though to my ears much of what they do has always carried over as more meticulous in tone and structure, however based in jams it might initially be. As such, a live album is probably overdue, and the arrival of Mela Ananda – Live via Napalm is most welcome in how it provides a glimpse of what the experience might be like of watching them play — sadly and more than a bit to my shame, I’ve never had the chance to do so — and how it spans their catalog to highlight their evolution. Unsurprisingly, it flows like mad.

Accompanied in its digipak form by a bonus DVD of the band’s Rockpalast performance, Mela Ananda – Live rightly keeps Moksha in focus. The cover art by Sebastian Jerke alludes to that album as well with a return of the horn-throwing Ganesha that appeared on its front, though the position of that character on a stage with a band before a crowd of freaks and aliens also speaks directly to the idea of performance and the title here, which reportedly translates to “a gathering of bliss.” Fair enough for the four-piece of guitarist Seppi, bassist Matte, drummer Steffen and keyboardist Norman, who’ve made spiritualism and the exploration thereof through music central to My Sleeping Karma since they first set out on their path, but Mela Ananda – Live also gives the band a showcase to let their audience realize how steady their output has been over the last decade-plus.

I don’t know if it’s comprised of one recorded evening-with or multiple gigs, but the 10-song/69-minute offering would seem to find them at the top of their game — at least to-date. As Moksha opener “Prithvi” begins here, they construct a momentum that carries through the set with a fluidity that’s striking in how akin it is to their studio work. Because their tones have always been so smooth, and have only grown more so over time, it wouldn’t seem unreasonable to think they’d have a harsher edge in a live setting, but though “23 Enigma” from the self-titled — here listed as “Enigma 42” — builds to a weightier thrust as closer “Hymn 72” from the same record also will at the end of the show, both it and “Glow 11” — which follows and appeared on the self-titled as well as Soma — demonstrate the patience that has emerged in My Sleeping Karma‘s aesthetic.

Their delivery is energetic and all the more able to hold the crowd rapt for that, but they don’t lose sight of the immersive aspects of what they do either; the entrancing way in which the bass sets the foundation for the guitar and keys in the memorable “Ephedra,” or how Tri opener “Brahama” so gracefully unfolds its peaks and valleys. “Vayu” and “Akasha” represent Moksha well back to back, and the turns that follow into “Brahama,” “Psilocybe” (from Soma) and the penultimate “Tamas” (from Tri) bask in the molten naturalism that has become, in many ways, the defining hallmark of My Sleeping Karma around which their evolution has taken place.

Granted, this probably shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who’s followed them for a stretch of time, but being their first live recording, it’s a new context in which to hear their songs interact with each other. Even “Hymn 72,” which follows the band thanking the audience (off-mic) and seemingly coming back out for an encore, doesn’t feel out of place with its more hurried, straightforward push. My Sleeping Karma may have developed considerably since the self-titled was released, but while Moksha and Soma were more progressive in their outward impression and that seems to be the direction they’ll keep moving, there’s further emphasis in Mela Ananda – Live of just how essential their beginning was in making that happen.

They’ve proven over the last 10 years to be one of Europe’s most forward-thinking heavy psych bands, and gained plenty of due acclaim as a result, so even if one wants to level the live-album-as-fan-piece accusation at this release, it seems to me to be well earned on their part both in celebration of what they’ve accomplished to this point and as a representation of how they view their own material, which only deepens the understanding of the listener in kind. One doesn’t necessarily want to venture a solid guess at what might come next from them, but if Mela Ananda – Live makes anything plain, it’s how signature My Sleeping Karma‘s sound is, and how committed they are to evolving it with sincerity, atmosphere and a continuing sense of adventure.

My Sleeping Karma, Mela Ananda – Live album trailer

My Sleeping Karma on Thee Facebooks

My Sleeping Karma website

Napalm Records webstore

The progression of German instrumentalists My Sleeping Karma has been as natural and flowing as the tones they’ve offered across their releases. Moksha is their fifth full-length and second to be released on Napalm Records behind 2012’s Soma (review here), and like that album, it finds the Aschaffenburg four-piece delving into Eastern religious themes — “Prithvi” being the world in which everything is contained, “Moksha” being freedom through self-realization, “Agni” the Hindu god of fire, etc. — and spacing out its graceful longer pieces with progressive interludes. In structure, Moksha could be considered a direct sequel to its predecessor, but much of what My Sleeping Karma accomplishes across its 11 songs/54 minutes finds its roots further back, in 2010’s Tri (review here), 2008’s Satya (review here) or even their 2006 self-titled. Their growth, in other words, has been steady, and the four-piece have proved over the better part of the last decade to be more inclined toward gradual, incremental steps forward than presumptuous leaps of sound. Moksha, then, is the next step for guitarist Seppi, bassist Matte, drummer Steffen and keyboardist Norman, and it proves to be their most entrancing work yet, pulling varied movements together across an immersive singular span that heavy, progressive, and hypnotically psychedelic while continuing to refine their sound as one of the most immediately identifiable in underground rock. The textured feel of the material here, whether it’s the building guitar swirl of “Vayu” or the keyboard and effects wash of the penultimate “Interlude 5,” is what unites it as a whole, and more even than Soma, it’s possible to make your way through the various twists and surprises Moksha has on offer without realizing just how far you’ve gone.

Like the best of heavy psychedelia, the feel is otherworldly, but My Sleeping Karma have never just been about jamming. Even less so over time. Their songs, though instrumental and portraying an open creative process, carry a refined feel, and that’s true from the first echoing guitar notes of “Prithvi,” which courses through keyboard and guitar melodies over a steady rhythmic foundation, leading into the first interlude’s ritualized drone, chanting and percussion coming to a head just as “Vayu” takes over, again led by the guitar and keys. Memorable turns, tonal warmth and easy transitions are nothing new for My Sleeping Karma, but both “Prithvi” and “Vayu” underscore just how much their sound has become their own over the course of the last nine years, and even with the three-year break preceding Moksha as the longest of their career, they have continued to evolve their approach. “Vayu” ends on a dreamy note of fading horns and “Interlude 2” picks up with a quiet guitar line fleshed out atmospherically over 1:45 before “Akasha” kicks in as one of Moksha‘s most engaging moments, a driving rhythm and airy spaciousness playing back and forth with each other not so much in competition as complement, Steffen‘s drums tying it together as each build starts anew. Moksha is more linear than broken into sides A and B — more like LPs one and two, both for its north-of-50-minutes runtime and companioning of one song into the next into the next — but the acoustic guitars and mellotron sounds of “Interlude 3” mark a halfway dividing point nonetheless, and keys remain at the fore in the beginning of the subsequent title-track, also the longest inclusion at 9:37. While not as immediately catchy as “Akasha,” the titular cut offers satisfying rumble in its distortion, a fervent swirl, satisfying tempo shifts and a sense of composition that has remained a key factor in My Sleeping Karma‘s style particularly over their last three outings. I won’t take anything away from the faster prog riff that emerges from the grand chugging of “Moksha”‘s largest moments, but what really makes the piece a standout is the post-rock guitar/key interplay that comes forward at about the 5:30 mark, Norman‘s intro line resurfacing and fleshing out for the remainder of the track, not so much in a build, but in a contemplative moment of exploration that hints at what the next step might be for the band.

That step? One can only speculate, but listening to Moksha and in particular listening to the song that shares the album’s name, it seems that where My Sleeping Karma might be headed is in drawing the heavy psychedelic and progressive influences together, taking the adventurous ambience and arrangements of their interludes and the solidified movement of their longer tracks and bringing them into a new cohesion. Whether that comes from expanding the interludes or broadening their songwriting as a whole, I don’t know what shape it might take, but five albums deep, that’s part of what makes My Sleeping Karma an exciting listen. Airy guitars continue amid a poignant surge on “Interlude 4,” while “Jalam” continues the expansive cascade of “Moksha,” careening into and through heavier parts en route to a sprawling, firm-rooted middle ground, the turn in one direction or another sudden but easy enough to follow, and the last of the interludes, the aforementioned “Interlude 5” has a smokier feel in its guitar and keyboard spread. Almost a bluesy drama, if filtered through the band’s own style. That leaves “Agni” to close out Moksha with a note reinforcing the album’s progressive vibe, which it does via intricate riffing and overarching thrust offset by more open “verse” riffs and a calm midsection that acts as the launch point for the last of the record’s builds, My Sleeping Karma taking one more lead-topped run into weightier distortion amid a comfortable lumber, adding intensity to the push until a final crash lets the ending tones fade away. One way or another, My Sleeping Karma have already made an impact on heavy psychedelia, not notably in Europe, but if listening to Moksha and trying to parse out what they might do next proves anything, it’s how fascinating a project theirs continues to be even a decade after its inception. Whatever direction My Sleeping Karma may or may not go, their output has only become more resonant with time, and as the most recent check-in on their progress, Moksha finds them at their most accomplished yet. But they in no way sound like they’re done, either.

My Sleeping Karma, “Prithvi” official video

My Sleeping Karma on Thee Facebooks

My Sleeping Karma’s website

Moksha at Napalm Records

One day, I’ll see My Sleeping Karma live. I’m confident it will happen. The German heavy psych instrumentalists are pretty high on my list at this point, to be honest, but I’ve seen enough things I never thought I’d see to be hopeful that, sooner or later, our paths will cross. Sooner would be better.

The four-piece have announced the details and release dates for their second album through Napalm Records — fifth overall; where does the time go? — which is titled Moksha. It follows behind 2012’s excellent Soma (review here) and boasts cover art by Sebastian Jerke that you can see, along with the tracklisting and formats below.

It’s worth noting that, since they made their self-titled debut on Elektrohasch in 2006, the three years between 2012 and 2015 is the longest stretch My Sleeping Karma have gone without releasing a full-length. They’ve usually worked on two-year intervals. Granted they toured Soma pretty hard, but it only adds further intrigue to the prospect of Moksha that it was a little bit longer in the making.

Here’s that info off the PR wire:

German quartet MY SLEEPING KARMA are back with their fifth studio album “Moksha.” The band considers this album, their strongest record to date. The sound and tone of the album perfectly fits into the Instrumental Progressive – and Ambient Post Rock realms.

From the start the listener is kidnapped by the spherical sound, between enormous atmospheric compositions with pure rock riffs and psychedelic melodies perfectly intertwined into this scenery.

Immerse yourself, both with the risk of completely losing yourself in this brand new masterpiece, because you might not be able to emerge again. Perhaps you don’t want to…

Find the cover, release dates, track listing & available formats below:

Formats:
Digipack
2LP Gatefold Edition (Black & Limited Color Editions)

Release Dates:
29.05.2015: GAS, RoE, AUS
01.06.2015: UK/NOR/FR/DK/IT
03.06.2015: SE/ESP
09.06.2015: US/CAN

Track listing:

Prithvi
Interlude 1
Vayu
Interlude 2
Akasha
Interlude 3
Moksha
Interlude 4
Jalam
Interlude 5
Agni

For More Info Visit:
www.mysleepingkarma.com
www.facebook.com/MySleepingKarma
www.napalmrecords.com
www.facebook.com/napalmrecords

My Sleeping Karma, Soma (2012)

German heavy psych rockers My Sleeping Karma have finished the recording process for their next album. Their last outing was also their Napalm Records debut and their fourth offering overall after three increasingly complex and satisfying releases on Elektrohasch Schallplatten. That full-length, Soma (review here), came out in 2012 as the follow-up to 2010’s Tri (review here), and proved a jump not only in breadth of distribution, but in sound as well, the four-piece Aschaffenburg outfit playing off their already established tendency toward keyboard textures and ambient melodies to create even richer and more immersive material. The response was accordingly welcoming.

Maybe that’s putting it mildly, since what Soma essentially did for My Sleeping Karma was thrust them to the upper echelon of Europe’s heavy psych movement. They worked hard to get to that point, of course — both in the studio and on tour — but no question that had that record fallen flat their work wouldn’t have been so readily recognized. Soma was a pivotal moment for them, so it’s with marked interest that one finds the news of the fifth album being done and on to the mixing stage prior to mastering and the eventual release. My Sleeping Karma posted regular video updates from the studio — a series of three — and each installment features some snippets of new music in the process of being made. As you can hear, the smoothness of their style and tones isn’t happenstance and it sounds like album number five will continue the thread forward from where Soma left off. Glad to hear it.

My Sleeping Karma are set to appear at both Desertfest London and Berlin in April. More tour news as I see it come down. In the meantime, here are the studio clips:

My Sleeping Karma in the Studio

Dear Friends,

We have finished the recording process. All main instruments as well as the gimmicks are “in the box”. Now we start with the mixing process.

Have a great week end.

My Sleeping Karma website

My Sleeping Karma on Thee Facebooks

My Sleeping Karma at Napalm Records

My Sleeping Karma, Satya (2008)

I was fishing through YouTube as I sometimes do looking for something to close out the week, and once I got to My Sleeping Karma‘s Satya and got about two seconds into opener “Ahimsa,” I knew I had no reason to search any further. The German heavy psych instrumentalists’ second album, released in 2008, was the first record I ever reviewed for this site (review here; though honestly it’s so needlessly packed with internet snark that I’m almost embarrassed to post the link), so obviously it has sentimental value there, but considering how hard My Sleeping Karma has worked on the two albums since, 2010’s Tri (review here) and their 2012 Napalm Records debut, Soma (review here), to push themselves creatively and further their craft, I think there’s plenty of aesthetic value as well. More than I appreciated at the time, and I liked Satya plenty when I first heard it. I guess I was figuring out how to do this and thought the only way to go about it was to be a wiseass about everything. Hindsight makes fools of us all.

Satya, however, only sounds richer with the context of the subsequent years, the Aschaffenburg four-piece blossoming in that time into one of the forerunners of the European heavy psych movement, moving beyond the jammy Colour Haze influence that marked their earliest work and emerging with a character all their own that, by now, has become a point of influence for others in their wake. I’m not sure they had such lofty ambitions six or seven years ago when Satya was coming together, but listening back to it now, their grip on their aesthetic was firm and they knew how to elicit movement within individual songs while also creating an overarching full-length flow. They had some stuff they were still figuring out — experiments with vocals, samples, etc. — but you can hear the heart of what My Sleeping Karma has become in this material, and more than that, right now, it’s really hitting the spot.

Should go without saying at this point, but I hope you enjoy it.

—

Apologies for the lack of posts today. Not looking for sympathy or “sorry for the loss” or anything like that — just letting you know what’s up — but I had an uncle pass away this week and after driving back up to Jersey last Sunday, had to come back down on Tuesday. Wrote the obituary, actually, and sort of ghost-wrote the eulogy with my cousin, which was an experience. Anyway, this afternoon and this evening was the wake, so pretty much the whole day went to that. Not much I could really do about it and sometimes that kind of thing just needs to take priority. I appreciate the understanding, and if you were looking for more posts, stick around next week because there’s a lot coming.

I’ve been asked to do another Red Kunz premiere. The last one went so awesomely well, that there’s another live video I’m in talks with the labels to get going. It might be Monday or might be later on or of course the whole thing could fall through and they could go a completely different direction, but I’ve got my hopes up it comes together, since that EP has a really cool sound and is worth getting the word out on as much as possible. Anyway, fingers crossed.

Also next week, I’ve got other family stuff going Wednesday, so I’m going to try to put together a podcast and get it posted, but that’ll probably be it for that day. I’m backed up on Radio adds, so those will go up, and I’m planning on posting the bio I wrote for the new Lo-Pan album, and a review of the new Karma to Burn. I’m so backed up on reviews it’s sad. I was thinking maybe of taking one week and just putting up 300 words of everything on the pile, doing that and nothing else, each record its own post, just to plow through everything and get back to square one. Not sure I’ll ever be that brave, but if you’ve sent something in, please know I’m doing my best. It’s been a time the last few months.

After the memorial tomorrow, though, I’m driving back up to Massachusetts. I’ll hopefully have time to stop off at home, or at least empty out the car, but then it’s off to the airport to pick up The Patient Mrs., who returns from Greece tomorrow night. It’s been a long month and I can’t wait to see her. This will have been the longest we’ve ever been apart since we first got together almost 18 years ago, and I survived, me and the dog, but with the move and everything, it’ll be so good to have her home and I feel like I’ll be able to get my head on straight a little bit for the first time in at least a couple weeks. Point is I can’t wait. The thought of seeing her has been carrying me through the past couple days.

Before I forget, I also passed the 1,000 followers mark on Twitter this week. That’s more than I ever thought would care enough to click the button, so thank you to everyone for the support there.

I hope you have a great and safe weekend. I’ll be back home on Monday and we’ll pick up then. Right on.

Please check out the forum and the radio stream.

The Obelisk Forum

The Obelisk Radio

Unsurprisingly, the My Sleeping Karma 20-minute tour documentary My Sleeping Karma: A Tour Video really makes me want to see My Sleeping Karma. Maybe that’s not fair, since I wanted to see the German heavy psych instrumentalists already, but let’s just say that after watching the footage chronicling their tour last fall supporting Monster Magnet — also supporting their fourth album, Soma (review here), which was their first for Napalm Records — my wanting to see them hasn’t diminished. Quite the contrary.

Maybe one of these days they’ll come to the States or I’ll be lucky enough to get back to Europe at a time when we can cross paths, but in the meantime, My Sleeping Karma: A Tour Video — compiled and edited by Tim Bohnenstingl of StonerRock.eu — does an excellent job of conveying the atmosphere on the road with the band and what they’re able to deliver in a live setting, which looks to be plenty.

Check out the full documentary below, followed by some more info on its creation, courtesy of Bohnenstingl himself:

My Sleeping Karma: A Tour Video

This 20 minute tour documentary was filmed over six days on tour, following My Sleeping Karma non stop. Hamburg, Paris, London, Manchester, Stuttgart. It focuses on the live shows, but also allows the audience to experience one day of a normal band on the road : Driving long distances, soundchecks, press interviews, photoshootings, load outs, jamming and just being yourself. All this is combined with interviews by the band commenting on the tour life and the “Flow” which My Sleeping Karma are kind of famous for in the underground scene.

“It was not only a pleasure and honour to be on tour with Monster Magnet, the band which brought me to the so called Stoner Rock, but much more so: My Sleeping Karma, one of the bands which still keeps me so interested in this flourishing genre. I had a lot of fun with the nicest people, I hope you will too while watching the movie.”. Tim, stonerrock.eu

Having proffered tonal sweetness and instrumental heavy psych groove since their self-titled debut made its way to the ears of an eager European scene in 2006 via Elektrohasch, the German four-piece My Sleeping Karma make a jump to Napalm Records for the release of their fourth album, the CD/2LP Soma. If one that’s going to bring them to the attention of a wider audience, it’s also a move for which they’re ready. Their last album, Tri (review here), was released in 2010 and found the band focusing on various aspects of Hindu theology, using the names of gods as themes running throughout the mostly instrumental tracks. With the prior Satya (review here) in 2008, it was Buddhism at the thematic fore. Musically, they’ve remained consistent despite working through these varied conceptual influences – you could hear Seppi’s guitar tone on the debut and on the latest and recognize the same smoothness in it then as now, though what he’s playing is more developed – and Soma takes for its basis the Hindu drink of the gods that shares its name. Each of the 55-minute full-length’s six central, mostly extended (six minutes and up) tracks is named for an “ingredient” in the soma, and each is also companioned by a transitional interlude, making the album as a whole an 11-track CD, beginning with “Pachyclada” and ending with “Psilocybe,” as each pair of songs between is separated by and interlude. This would be, at worst, a disruption of Soma’s progression, were it not for the fluidity of the material itself. If My Sleeping Karma wanted to base their fourth album around a drink, they did right in choosing something liquid, as there’s no better descriptive basis for the songs themselves – they flow as a liquid would, to be clearer about it. Rather than distract from that process, the interludes add to it, bolstering an already rich atmosphere and adding instrumental complexity and ambient vibing to the ebbs and flows within the more expansive, dynamic tracks. On any level you could want to evaluate it, Soma is a triumph in how it accomplishes the task it sets for itself – tonally, atmospherically, engagingly. It crafts memorable parts serving a greater whole and to call it manna doesn’t seem inappropriate (however disparate the cultural basis might be for doing so might be) given My Sleeping Karma’s otherworldly psychedelic range.

Most of the elements at work musically on Soma will be familiar to those who’ve experienced My Sleeping Karma’s sweetly-honed jamming before. Their apparent methodology remains consistent despite the varying themes – they jam – in a variety of moods and vibes, perhaps, but they jam nonetheless. Songs like “Pachyclada,” “Ephedra” and “Eleusine Coracana” are not without their structures, their peaks and valleys, but they have a direction underlying their largely open-feeling development. At an even nine minutes, opener “Pachyclada” is the longest piece on Soma (immediate points tallied to whatever scope might be kept) and sets the tone for what follows with strong hits from drummer Steffen punctuating the prevalent bassline of Matte as Seppi’s guitar gradually swells to prominence. One thing My Sleeping Karma has always done well is craft a chorus out of the instrumentation, and Seppi is quick to establish that of “Pachyclada” in a flicker of a lead that returns as a sort of mini-theme within the song itself, cycling through several times in the first half before a heavier tangent emerges in the second, still keeping to the same kind of idea, but turning it into a build that reaches a satisfying apex before calming and riding out, Norman’s keys adding proggy swirls and a sort of howling tonality to complement the guitar. From its very beginning, the song is rich and encompassing – on headphones its pull is even greater – and the rainy transition it makes into the first of the album’s five interludes is no less smooth than anything on “Pachyclada” itself. The interludes are a point of interest both sonically and conceptually, as they manage to be vastly different among themselves while also tying the material before and after them together. The one between “Pachyclada” and “Ephedra” is Seppi’s guitar alone, echoing layers of simple sweetness, but to contrast, the later interlude between “Saumya” and “Somalatha” is key-led, almost trip-hop in its construction, so there’s more at work there than just moving from one track to the next. With drums at the fore between “Ephedra” and “Eleusine Coracana” and Matte’s bass accompanying birdsong between “Eleusine Coracana” and “Saumya,” it’s as though each member of My Sleeping Karma was given an interlude of their own, finally culminating in the breathing-topped, beating-heart contemplative minimalism of the interlude between “Somalatha” and closer “Psilocybe.”

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