Album Review: Kusanagi - Paramnesia
Reviewed by Dan Barnes
Formed in Liverpool back in 2011, Kusanagi’s four members have wholly embraced their eclectic influences and moulded their sound accordingly. But when those influences range from metal, post rock and punk, through to hip-hop, synth wave and electronica, you can be sure the outcome will be different.
Citing bands such as Mogwai, Animals as Leaders and So I Watch You From Afar would seem quite obvious given Kusanagi’s instrumentalism, but layering on top of those names as diverse as The Cure and Deftones establishes the band as one not likely to compromise their creative vision.
Messrs Caulton and Davis on guitars, Hunt and Caffery handling the low end have been no strangers to festivals the likes of Arctangent, Portals and Threshold, where they were inspired to curate their own local events, leading to collaboration with other, like-minded, artists.
For this, the band’s third full-length album, Kusanagi have written a record that looks at the idea of abstract dream states, hence the title: Paramnesia, a condition which prevents a person from being able to recognise real memories from fantasies.
The album’s eight instrumental tracks all follow the pattern of Paramnesia’s definition, with each becoming something of a dream state, perfectly enclosed within itself, but linking to all the other compositions across the record.
Like a dream, ideas come and go, sharp guitars plucking crisp, clean notes suddenly take on a brooding feel. Opener Night Symmetry ebbs and flows between the cascading post rock and the low chugs and a more abrasive tune. Harsh drums ground the soaring phrases; on Polymath the band introduce a more dissonant and complex pattern, along with rumbling percussion and some electronic moments.
Those ideas are pushed even further on Equilibria’s sharp electronic sound and pulsating bass lines, making a grand statement at its midpoint as it looks to blend progressive rock with some jazz influences. Such an endeavour is more fully realised on Physics of Colour, in which the jazz-infused opening sections, spritely and chipper, are usurped by dark chugs and cymbal washes, giving the piece a dense, brooding atmosphere. Luminosity is perhaps where Paramnesia is at its most ferocious, through a huge cosmically sized rumble and the uncanny sound of damaged instruments.
Yet it is the concept of dreams that is at the heart of the album and the three tunes that most ably capture this are the lulling melodies of In Sleep We Heal, with its twisting guitars, Spatial Awareness’ descent into a central lush, warm dream scape at its midpoint, and closer, Dream Projector’s languid and hallucinatory opening movements, leading to a harsh, towering finale to the album.
Although the human brain is the most complex organism in the known universe, it’s still a bit of a dick at times, and will flit from one thing to another, utterly random thought with zero notice. Kusanagi replicate this – in a far more approachable manner – by utilising the many arrows in their considerable quiver. Clean guitars give way to fat, low chugs, zippy drum-fills morph into dense percussive blasts, and walking bass lines are suddenly required to anchor the song to the musical ground.
Paramnesia is a fascinating journey through the possible-dream scape of the creatives involved; one that is bound to reward close attention, but one that has a surface charm too.
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