Sundara Kamra- 'Youth Is Only Fun in Retrospect' Album Review

Sundara Karma- ‘Youth is Only Ever Fun in Retrosepct’

With each year that passes, a new leather-clad young band seems to arrive on the UK indie scene recycling the same pious, morality sodden, lazy guitar strumming songs that bands like Catifsh and the Bottlemen and Darlia have plagued the last few years with. For 2017, this band appears to be Sundara Karma.

The Reading based band’s debut LP ‘Youth is Only Ever Fun in Retrospect’ (jesus Christ, titles don’t come much more awful than that) is a relatively simple selection of tracks which plods its way through its surprisingly lengthy track running. Attempting to channel that ‘anthem banger’ manifesto, Sundara Karma have produced a pretty lazy album in this bloggers opinion. Churning out 47 minutes of material for a debut album may seem like a strong credit to a band’s ability, however if the songs are as dire as this band’s then well, you’re wrong. 6 minute long slow burners like ‘Happy Family’ are just simply not needed, they add very little to the general feeling of this LP and purely serve to trudge the listener through this album.

Okay, so maybe I’m being a bit harsh on the band here, they’re young and it’s their debut album, they’re not supposed to ace it first time, I get that. And a select few songs do help this album achieve something; ‘Flame’ is a funky, jangling tune that flutters its way within the middle of this LP that actually draws the listener in with its catchy hook and joyous chords, yet the general consensus of this debut effort is poor. Sundara Karma have already proved to be popular with the general indie audience, however I for one am not a fan.

Overall Rating- 4/10

Fave Songs- ‘Flame’

Least Fave Songs- ‘Happy Family’, ‘Watching from Great Heights’, ‘Vivienne’