I was introduced to Japanese psych rockers Kikagaku Moyo last Fall at their Manhattan show at Berlin when they were in the US touring their third full length record House In The Tall Grass. The most exciting thing about Kikagaku Moyo, despite their absolutely trance-inducing nature of their music was undoubtedly the blend of typical psych instruments (guitar, bass, drums) with sitar and organs. The result is an incredibly immersive quality as the fivesome build intricately woven layers that lend themselves naturally to prolonged jams. "In A Coil", the first single from their upcoming Stone Garden EP, finds the quintet working more abrasive edges into the meditative style that encompassed much of House In The Tall Grass. On "In A Coil", Kikagaku Moyo are rougher up, amping up the blunt force behind the repetitiveness of their interlocking melodies. Though there are vocals, they blend into the mix, offered more as another textural layer than a real point of focus. Despite it's driving beat that propels it forward, the quintet balance some of the space rock zen with a immediacy born of improvisation and their ingrained spirit of experimentation. "In A Coil" pushes the bands' sound forward while highlighting just how riveting a listen the band is in the first place; able to encapsulate the duality of old and new as the band takes their influences in classic psych, folk rock, and even Indian music and channels them into something intriguingly unique and not entirely capable of labeling. They're a band after my own heart and hopefully yours too.
Kikagaku Moyo's Stone Garden EP is out April 21st on Guruguru Brain. Pre-orders are available for both digital and vinyl here.
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