Exclusive album premiere of ‘Kali Yuga Kama Sutra’ by Westerner, out August 19th via Coconut Spaceship Records.

Making waves from the westside of Los Angeles since 2013, Westerner has proven that they’re going nowhere but up. The power trio’s sophomore album ‘Kali Yuga Kama Sutra’ delivers their freshest sound to date. The ten-track record is a modern indie odyssey laced with neo-psychedelic and synth-pop flavors. Featuring distinctive frontman Cooper Bombadil, bassist and keyboardist Brandon Valerino, and power drummer Mike Gattshall, the album showcases deep-rooted collaborative magic.

“We’re aiming to push the limits of the frontier of modern music”, Cooper says. “The album’s name, ‘Kali Yuga Kama Sutra’, encapsulates the spectrum of the sound in terms of the dark and light that it explores. I like things that are opposites and how when you put them together their opposite nature has a tension to it. It creates an edge-of-the-world kind of feeling”.

The album is like a crazy train taking you to stations you never knew existed. They blend percussive elements with solid rock drumming; they weave deeply grooving bass lines with dreamy, silky vocals and take plenty of time for explosive guitar and drum solos. Westerner is renovating several genres into a sonic structure entirely of their own. The album truly doesn’t have a twin, a hard feat to pull off in this day and age. They’re achieving singularity with ease.

“What we’re doing is different enough but has a pop sensibility that people gravitate towards”, bassist Brandon (who also plays in local LGBQTA+ band King Queen) says. “We like to push the limits with outfits and our personalities. Cooper’s lyrics are very poetic and have deep meaning but are also very relatable, fitting well with this tapestry of sound”.

The group also has a particularly explosive energy onstage which has earned them local residencies, regional tours and an upcoming record release show at School Night, the longstanding curated Los Angeles showcase that is seen as a vehicle for artists who go on to chart big and win Grammys. With a launch like that, it’s hard to not see Westerner’s newest album breaking new ground for them. Don’t miss out on the party of a music video for ‘Hell is Dull’ as well.

‘Kali Yuga Kama Sutra’ sees the band moving closer to the pop sensibilities it has always teased while still embracing its weirdness. The duality in the title of the album feels apt since the first half sounds like it could be the soundtrack to seduction, while the second half is preoccupied with the things that hide in the shadows.

Headline photo: Nikki Neumann

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