Album Review: Zen Mantra

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Opening with the tumultuous, twangy guitar refrain on Will Disappear, Zen Mantra’s self-titled album is a brilliant, collective cross-section of reedy, jangling guitar dispersed with sporadic synth.

As a mainstayer of the Christchurch music scene and a member of currently touring local group Yumi Zouma, Sam Perry curates a pretty formidable reputation, so expectations for this collection were set pretty high.

Lyrically, the album develops and paces in a way that somehow simultaneously feels amazingly poetic and oddly childish, whilst the production builds incrementally - vocal lines layered over each other to build frenzied, almost dissonant peaks of sound and a really great moment in Hole In My Skull where the chorus line is repeated over underlayered, totally wrenching screams.

There is a remarkable consistency to the polish of each song that shines through across the collection, though the change in influences and tones between pieces is obvious.

Bailey opens as a slower, retrospective piece – relying a little more heavily on guitar and vocals and summoning vague Best Coast comparisons, before adjusting to provide more heady, atmospheric breakdowns.

The album’s single Second Skin has some super slick guitar work that reminds a little of The Cure but develops beyond that with a slightly understated, hazy vocal.

Seriously good tunes and hopefully a good indicator for the future of Kiwi music.