The Dharma Chain Premiere “Inside a New” Video; Some Kind of Pure State Out June 5
Posted in Bootleg Theater, Reviews on May 5th, 2026 by JJ Koczan
The Dharma Chain will release their second album, Some Kind of Pure State, on June 5. With mood, ambience and melody as priorities, the Berlin-based, Australia-rooted four-piece are working with an international consortium of labels for the eight-song offering: Spinda Records, Le Cèpe Records and Clostridium Records in Europe, Dirty Filthy Records in the UK and Echodelick Records in the US.
It doesn’t take long to hear what this statistically significant number of imprints have heard (wait until you scroll down and see all the links at the bottom of the post; it’s ridiculous), as “Inside a New,” “Into the Night” and “Borderline” at the start of the album find a place between ’90s alternative, late-’70s post-punk and proto-New Wave, and psychedelic outreach. “Into the Night” is krauty while “Borderline” takes off on a twisty, lead-guitar-and-atmospheric-vocals-topped excursion, revealing that the minor-key meditative guitar line of “Inside a New” was no fluke, but rather a thread woven throughout Some Kind of Pure State‘s 40-minute run.
And I suppose the central question one might ask approaching the record is what kind of pure state we’re talking about. Both helpfully and not, I don’t think it’s a single thing so much as an overarching affect of the whole. That is to say, for the name it’s been given and the vividly declarative statement being made by the music, Some Kind of Pure State might just as well have been self-titled. The thing is what it has been made to be, is what I’m telling you.
You might not believe that as “Borderline” airy-prog-rocks itself into the moodier, trip-hop-informed rollout of “Love’s Confusion,” but the movement back and forth and conversation between ideas is part of the appeal. As they follow-up their 2022 debut, Nowhere — which 
as I read it was put together during the process of moving from Australia to Germany? jeez, that sounds exhausting — The Dharma Chain present a fleshed-out vision of their sound, which on-paper has a lot in common with heavygaze but is more fervent and alt-rocking in its movement, as side B leadoff “Red Red Red Red Red” with a low-key, might-be-goth shuffle across its five minutes.
It’s dug in, and dynamic, and ‘pure’ in the title in no way means stagnant or just-one-thing. Given the vibes wrought throughout, one might get a sense of cold in the music, but the varied, often-dual vocals countermand this along with touches like the fuzz at the end of “Into the Night” or the mellow intertwining of voices early as “Cross Over” enacts its four-minute build, pointedly hypnotic into the standalone-vocal finish and giving over to silence so the immediately-tense bass-led rhythm of the penultimate “Minor Prayer” presents a due contrast.
Ahead of closer “How Far,” “Minor Prayer” feels placed to highlight its crescendo, which is more spacious than that of “Borderline” but kin to it just the same, whereas, the finale and longest inclusion at 6:56, “How Far” leaves on a note of departure (see what I did there?), pushing the guitar lower in the mix to let piano lead the progression. As they hit into the middle of the piece, the piano is joined dramatically by weighted tones and crash, but like the bassline holding through “Minor Prayer,” “How Far” doesn’t lose sight of its own purpose just because they get to the heavy part.
In chemistry, purity is defined as having the same chemical composition throughout. The Dharma Chain aren’t only doing one thing, trying to only do one thing, or saying that they are. Instead the message seems to be one of totality. It is the whole work defining itself, rather than any individual part of it, and the work in turn defines the group as themselves.
It’s too early to stream the whole record, but the video below for “Inside a New” has some interpretive dance in the park, and that’s got to count for something. More PR wire background follows.
Please enjoy:
The Dharma Chain, “Inside a New” video premiere
“Inside A New” is the second single from The Dharma Chain’s second album ‘Some Kind Of Pure State’ released by Spinda Records (ES), in collaboration with Le Cèpe Records (FR), Clostridium Records (DE), Echodelick Records (US) and Dirty Filthy Records (UK), set to be released June, 5, 2026.
Pre-order ‘Some Kind Of Pure State’ (LP/CD): https://linktr.ee/thedharmachain
Music by Aidan Stewart, Amanda McGrath, Ben Rompotis and Giulia Piras
Recorded and produced by Jonathan Dreyfus at Stare Crazy, Funkhaus Berlin
Mixed by Ben Rompotis
Mastered by Carl Saff at Saff Mastering, Chicago, USA
Video by Maria Sécio
Dance performance by Harrison McClary
In 2026, The Dharma Chain partnered with Spinda Records, in collaboration with Le Cèpe Records (FR), Clostridium Records (DE), Echodelick Records (UK) and Dirty Filthy Rec(UK), for their second full-length album, ‘Some Kind Of Pure State’, set to be released June 5th, 2026. Recorded at Funkhaus Berlin and produced by Jonathan Dreyfus, the album captures a band shaped by movement finally coming to rest —more grounded, focused, and refining their identity without losing the rawness that defined their beginnings. ‘Some Kind of Pure State’ is about the clarity that follows chaos; a document of transformation shaped by the quiet disorientation of change. The album weaves together themes of love in its many forms, addiction, political currents, and the search for meaning in the everyday. These ideas emerge as reflections rather than declarations, born from the turbulence and tenderness of life in flux.
After relocating to Berlin, the band released their debut album ’Nowhere’ (2022) via Anomic Records (DE). Recorded between an abandoned church in Australia’s Gold Coast Hinterland and an East Berlin basement studio, the album received international radio support across more than 50 stations, including Radio Eins (DE), Amazing Radio (UK/USA), Triple R (AU) and Radio 3 (ES). In 2025, the band released the standalone single “See Through” via Spinda Records (ES), which later on was remixed by Berlin-based DJ and producer Mike Midnight, ahead of their second full-length album.
In 2026, The Dharma Chain will appear at Desertfest Berlin, Fuzz Club Festival, Brighton Psych Fest and Manchester Psych Fest, alongside extensive touring across France, the UK, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland and Germany.
The Dharma Chain, Some Kind of Pure State (2026)
Clostridium Records on Instagram
Clostridium Records on Facebook
Dirty Filthy Records on Instagram
Dirty Filthy Records on Facebook
Echodelick Records on Bandcamp
Echodelick Records on Instagram
