Kaura – Who?

Kaura is a band that released a self-titled EP in 2005, yet somehow managed to slip by my ear…until now.  I have stumbled upon this act and am being lured in by the amazing mixture of sounds, world-instruments, and culture within their music.

“We spent time altering some of our guitars to turn them into a hybrid of a six string, twelve string and a sitar. We also use wood-rimmed drums to give the drums more tone and warmth to the songs” says Benjamin.  Well, not only that but they traveled the world, to places such as India, Nepal, Cambodia, Thailand, Bali, and Laos to learn and collect instruments to incorporate into their music.

On this debut, self-produced, self-titled EP, Kaura have given listeners a taste, a tiny bite of what the band has to offer.  The songs have energy and purpose, the lyrics offer hope and compassion, but do not preach to the listener.  Each song not only builds to a climax but delivers on that promise and provides a release and closure.  I’d be a liar to say that there are not flaws with this short 5 song EP, but with a little more time together and a little bit more money to spend on the recording, perhaps due to a label picking them up, I can see a full-length debut really delivering a a major quality record.

On their Myspace site they also have songs that are not on this EP, one that is a 2006 demo titled “One Becomes Two”, which I hope is an indication of what we’ll be getting on a debut full-length album…that is “supposed” to be under preparations. From what I hear they are in talks with labels as I write this.  There is a wealth of interview and review text to read about this band, yet again, somehow nobody ever grabbed me, smacked me with their EP and said, LISTEN! Someone will pay for that!

The most promising and exciting quote that I found from the band is as follows:“What we’ve captured on this recording [The Kaura EP] is just the seed idea of where we’re headed; we’ve only hinted at our vision for this music. We intend to do more traveling and will always be looking for ways to incorporate what we find and learn into our sound.”

Of course I’d also be crazy not to point out the fact that this all sounds a little similar to dredg, but that’s okay, I find no fault in that.  And the fact that this unsigned act just opened up for Tool on their September 2nd date, well that solidifies the uniqueness and potential of the band.  Besides, there is enough that separates Kaura from dredg and Tool musically that there really shouldn’t be anyone yelling copycat.

So, Kaura who?

Kaura, modern progressive rock embodied with a knowledge, appreciation, and sound of ancient world instrumentation and culture…

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/kaura
Website: http://www.kaura.com
Buy the EP: http://cdbaby.com/cd/kaura

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