Sundara Karma — Oblivion! — EP Review

Alternative | Indie | Rock

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I was fortunate enough to discover the Reading-based four-piece Sundara Karma, upon the release of their sophomore (and most recent album), titled Ulfilas’ Alphabet.

Since then, I have definitely been a fan of the musical aesthetic that the group have chiseled out for themselves; a balance mixture of nostalgic and current feels. On top of that, I definitely need to give credit to how unique the band sound in comparison to most other indie-rock groups.

This uniqueness only seemed to be evolving with the release of Sundara Karma’s late 2020 EP Kill Me. With its five tracks, said EP really brought forth a further evolution in the bands musical style; one that presented a highly whimsical and fantastical atmosphere. With thanks to those elements, Kill Me quickly settled amongst my favourite EP’s of that year.

But given that the bands last studio album was released just over three years ago now, my hopes and dreams for the next Sundara Karma project was one that brought their stylistic evolution onto a full-length record. Unfortunately, we don’t get much of that at all with Sundara Karma’s latest effort, in the form of Oblivion!.

Oblivion! is the fifth EP that Sundara Karma has brought to listeners. And while it’s clear that the band have more experience with releasing EP’s, I thought that the time was perfect for the band to release a brand new album. That was at least what I prematurely predicted with the releases of teaser tracks like “All These Dreams”, the title track, and of course let’s not forget “Godsend”, which was released in the midst of last year.

But, perhaps I should digress a little. Besides, I have admittedly been in need of more EPs to listen to in 2022 (which has so far seen an extremely scarce amount of smaller projects). However, there is unfortunately a separate layer of disappointment to unravel.

Even more so than the likes of Ulfilas’ Alphabet, Oblivion! feels like the most “accessible” project I’ve heard since discovering Sundara Karma. The reason behind the inverted commas, is that it comes off as something that seems more uninspired. The melodies and instrumentation on this EP, for the most part, are painfully mild; unfit for a band that have shown as much uniqueness as Sundara Karma has in the past.

I shouldn’t knock it too much, however; the tracks on Oblivion! do still carry an enjoyment factor, and have little bits of atmosphere sprinkled throughout. But in comparison to past projects, and my expectations built up by how brilliant those past projects were, Oblivion! unfortunately had me feel as if the band had taken a step back stylistically.

Perhaps it was what Sundara Karma wanted; to go back to basics. But if that wasn’t the intention, my unfortunate verdict is that Oblivion! failed to wow me.

Favourite Tracks: Desire | Godsend

Least Favourite Track: All These Dreams

Chess Club Recordings | AWAL

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