Qoya - Karma

Labels: Self-Released

Formats: CD/Digital

Release Date: 04 Oct 2024

Tracklist:

1. Ascend

2. Ghost

3. Mantra

4. Karma

5. Anima

6. Timeless

7. Sheol

8. Mirrors

9. Temple

10. Altar

Way back in December 2022 (how has it been that long already?) I reviewed the 2nd Stellar Frequencies Session from French post-punk/post-rock/shoegaze band Qoya. On 4th October the trio are due to self-release their latest album Karma, which follows their 2021 full-length Yokai. I really enjoyed what I've heard from Qoya to date and coupled with a broadening musical palette courtesy of Pelagic Records (Thot, Sugar Horse etc), and a more recent deep-dive into French punk thanks to Crapoulet Records, I can't wait to get stuck into this release.

As I hit play on Karma’s opener ‘Ascend’, the extremely slow build has me worried. It takes a good fifteen seconds for any sound to come out of the speakers and I’m not gonna lie, I thought I’d been sent a faulty promo. Thankfully and obviously that isn’t the case, and as intro song’s go this one is beautifully delivered.‘Ascend’ was wholly instrumental, whereas ‘Ghost’ sees Qoya fully open up with both vocals and heavier musicianship. The vocals are clean and definitely lean towards the haunting sounds of high-profile goth/post-punk/pop vocalists gone by (Robert Smith, Tony Hadley) and even have some similarity to the clean tones of Vice Martyr (of Hateful Abandon). The instrumentation is made up of subtle percussion, synths, and melodic guitar work. 

Qoya’s sound is a melting pot of many different styles that are effortlessly woven into one. I recently watched (the newly reformed) Linkin Park live-stream and while that fact bears no real importance here, there is a subtle synergy between both bands musically as ‘Mantra’ flows. Maybe you’ll understand what I’m on about one day! With title-song ‘Karma’ it really feels like Qoya are looking to breakout of their small musical cosm and into the wider consciousness, and why shouldn’t they? After all, there are millions if not billions of music fans out there. Yes there needs to be an element luck thrown in as well but sometimes a band make’s their own.

Atmospheric, Cinematic music like this has become an ever growing love of mine and ‘Anima’ proves exactly why as it navigates through nearly four minutes of flowing guitar work, and glacial percussion. ‘Timeless’ is a very apt choice of song title as one day Qoya’s blend of slow and mournful post-rock could become just that. I for one hope it does! The most expansive side of Qoya shows through during in their five plus-minute songs, starting with ’Sheol’, which has a much doomier outlook while still sounding easy on the ear. At times, it reminds me of UK post-punk/indie band Franz Ferdinand, which is not a bad comparison in my opinion (tell me if you agree or not). 

Effervescence comes with ‘Mirrors’, which is amongst the most shoegazey of songs on Karma thanks in no small part to the effortless delivery of those now familiar, and epic guitar tones. This is starting to get a bit emotional and as if my general verbose gushing wasn’t enough, we still have two songs to go! ’Temple’ is the first of those two and Qoya straddles a (by now) familiar path, while also performing their most expansive song on Karma. Heavily instrumental for it’s majority, it’s grandiose beyond compare. When the vocals do appear, they’re soaring first and then buried deeper later on. A brooding dynamic that really works for the band.

Album closer ‘Altar’ is at the opposite end of the song-length spectrum while being up front when it comes to ambience. It rounds out the album in haunting brilliance, allowing you to truly take stock of what you’ve just witnessed. With a few more months of 2024 to go there’s no doubt going to be records that really hit hard. When Karma is released in early October, it will definitely be one of them.

You can stream 'Karma', 'Timeless' and 'Sheol' prior to full release below, where you can also pre-order the album directly from Qoya:-

Qoya - https://www.facebook.com/qoyamusic