Wormslayer by Kula Shaker: Album Review
Wormslayer by Kula Shaker: Album Review
Thirty years ago, a young man at the beginning of his journey into mind-altering substances and ideas bought an album by a new British band that piqued his interest. Unlike other bands from the ’90s Britpop scene, they weren’t merely mimicking the sounds of rock and pop’s past. Instead, they were taking the elements they loved from that bygone era and molding them into something new, yet familiar. That young man was your intrepid author, the album was K, and that band was Kula Shaker.
Though I lost track of them amid life’s distractions and the discovery of countless other artists and genres, I can safely report that in the 30 years since, Kula Shaker has honed their sound to a fine, sparkling prism point—and they sound better than ever on their newest release, Wormslayer.
The album spins and gurgles to life on the opening track, “Lucky Number,” unwinding into a brief Eastern interlude before a marching beat carries this bouncy ode to a lover to its climax. “Good Money” boasts a chorus that feels like a modern psychedelic-funk counterpart to the O’Jays’ “For the Love of Money,” while Crispian Mills spits hallucinatory fire with lines like, “You and me are free to choose our own reality when opportunity knocks on our door.”
“The Charge of the Light Brigade” pairs a foreboding atmosphere with a driving rhythm, pushing the limits of grandiosity without tipping into frenzy; the band remains in complete sonic control throughout. The dark tone continues into the Pink Floyd-meets-Ennio Morricone opening of “Broke as Folk” before melting into a psychedelic folk meditation on living modestly and not allowing money to define identity. This theme comes through in lines like “The King has lost his crown,” and a cheeky moment where Mills references his famous mother, the actress Hayley Mills, when singing, “All those years of working for the mouse, always dreamed of getting out.” The song’s midsection features an outstanding Manzarek-like organ breakdown that vamps on “When the Music’s Over.”
There are also a few slower, more reflective tracks—such as the soaring, celestial “Be Merciful” and the hallucinatory ballad “Little Darling”—both of which serve as counterweights to the more upbeat tunes while maintaining the psychotropic haze that colors the band’s best work.
Jason LeValley
I have to admit I’m a bit disappointed in myself for losing track of this band and now feel compelled to revisit the evolution between K and this album. Still, it’s deeply impressive that Kula Shaker has not only expanded and refined their sound over the past three decades but also pulled off a rare trick among their contemporaries: taking a style that could easily have felt dated or tired and making it sound fresh, contemporary, and alive, all while delivering catchy, mind-expanding songs. A musical oasis in a sea of false contenders, you might say. Wormslayer is Kula Shaker doing what they do best—and doing it remarkably well, all these years later.
Wormslayer drops Friday, January 30.
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