Black Market Karma must have plenty to spare as they follow-up the recent Comatose with Cocoon, the first of two to be released this year on their own Flower Power Records. A worthy successor to Comatose, Cocoon still carries the wobbly slurred whiff of MBV, Spiritualized and the like, but the mark they’ve made on their run of releases emerges in full-flight. Opener Wilter digs into that sound with a shimmering wall of tuneful, circular squall that they weave through Cocoon. From more languid cuts like Refusal and Sole Abuser, the swampy Dirty Water and the punch of the title cut, Black Market Karma keep their wall of sound deceptively open. They lay down plenty of dynamics and hooks to show how much they can move around without deflating their sound by punching holes in it: the ghostly and wistful tinged Hold Me Down a great example of them reigning in their sound without watering it down. Layering up on its own time, Iono starts easing you out for the wrap up, Phase Out. An understated slow chime of guitars and circular drums build up the haze to a teasing, releasing lift-off, rather than bringing the walls down for a bombastic overwrought finale. Not surprisingly, especially with another platter in the works, the end of Cocoon hints at something else ready to pick up where this leaves off.
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Black Market Karma
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