Kosmo Sound - Fruit Of The Void [LP]

Zephyrous Records

£18

Format: LP
Catalogue No.: ZEPLP058
Barcode: 5414165090434
Release Date: 02 Dec 2022
Genre: Dub / Jazz

Belgian dub-jazz outfit Kosmo Sound, are set to release their sophomore album ‘Fruit of the Void’ on the 25th November via Zephyrus Records. With a background in jazz, the sextet creates an exciting, danceable and eclectic universe with tight grooves, oriental sounds and spacy sound effects. Improvisations and expansive melodies take the listener on a trip through their cosmos.

Formed via a mutual love and respect for dub in 2017 by bassist Mattias Geernaert (SUWI, Julien Firmin, Tiny Legs Tim, His Trust Fund) and drummer Marius Couvreur (Madame Blavatsky, RVB quartet), the Ghent musicians decided to set up a project within the genre themselves. A few jam sessions later with like-minded players and Kosmo Sound was born.

The contribution of guitarists Edmund Lauret (Nordmann, The Milk Factory, FUR) and Cyriel Vandenabeele (SUWI, ELIAS, Verhalen), keyboard player Bos Debusscher (Pura Vida, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, The Congos) and saxophonist Ambroos De Schepper (Bandler Ching, Mòs Ensemble, Boogie Belgique), creates a wonderfully fresh sound that is indebted to dub, yet offers a fresh take on the genre.

In 2019, Kosmo Sound were crowned the winners of Soundtrack – a prestigious annual music industry event held in Belgian – and after a number of rave live shows and festival performances in Belgium, Netherlands and the UK, heavily inspired, they took refuge in the studio, releasing their critically acclaimed debut album ‘Antenna’ a year later. The ultimate recognition came when dub producer Daniel Boyle (Max Romeo, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry) and Alpha & Omega remixed album tracks ‘Hofstr.’ and ‘Yeasterday’ respectively. Kosmo Sound has also supported UK dub pioneer and On-U Sound producer, Adrian Sherwood, and the Twinkle Brothers and Omar Perry.

With an infectious love of deep bass lines, meditative sounds and dense grooves, across ‘Fruit of the Void’, Kosmo Sound proudly exercise their jazz influence through a sense of experiment and their love for brass instruments. From the horn-heavy, sultry sounds of ‘Amethist’ to the space-dub inflections of ‘Ototoxic’, Kosmo Sound is a perfect balance of tight rhythms and extended melodies, and they constantly strive to push boundaries with their sound.

Elsewhere, ‘Banoffee Pie’ fizzes with whirling keys and off-kilter drums as you lose yourself in the immersive soundscapes while ‘Channel Raceway’ glides along on a hot bed of weighty bass lines and dreamy rhythms.

“It's a slow motion dub explosion.” - Woodburner

“As a mixture of Slimmah Sound, El Michels Afffair and Khruangbin in which deep dub basses flirt with thin desert blues guitars, jazzy drum patterns and tufts of saxophone.” - Indiestyle

“The canvas that these six musicians span as Kosmo Sound has a musical breadth that effortlessly ranges from dub over jazz to psych.” - daMusic

"an amalgation of styles that tickle the senses" - ReggaeVibes

“This remarkable debut makes one curious about future releases” – Irie Ites

Tracklist:
A1. Amethist A2. Chloris Hell Prevention A3. Ototoxic A4. Carolina Reaper A5. Ferocious B1. Banoffee Pie B2. Electric Spider B3. Channel Raceway B4. Blue Mountain