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“Grumbling psych played on a whirring blender of guitars, synths and traditional Japanese temple instruments”
— The Wire

Kuunatic’s hotly anticipated 2nd album “Wheels of Ömon,” takes another adventuresome deep dive into their self-made fantasy mythology, proposing whole new worlds of psychedelic drama and ritual.

In addition to their core sonic palette of tribal drums, pulsing bass, atmospheric keyboards and grouped female vocals, the acclaimed Japanese psych-rock trio played an array of Japanese traditional instruments on “Wheels of Ömon.” The result is a thrilling, kaleidoscopic album that brushes against tradition as it whirls into an other-wordly future.

First the facts. Kuunatic are the trio of Fumi Kikuchi on keyboards, Shoko Yoshida on bass and Yuko Araki on drums. All three of them also sing. They formed in 2016 and released an EP and 7” single before, in 2021, dropping their debut album, Gate of Klüna, on an unsuspecting public.

Here’s where things get unusual. Gate of Klüna was no ordinary album. Following on from their Kuurandia EP, it developed a mix of psychedelic garage and prog rock, ritual drumming, chanting female vocals, lush keyboard textures and traditional Japanese folk instruments to tell the mythic tale of the planet Kuurandia – a bold saga of magic, volcanoes and battle.

Now, with the release of their second album – Wheels of Ömon – Kuunatic have come to take us further down the rabbit hole.

Wheels of Ömon builds on the story of Kuurandia, its moon Klüna and its sun Ömon with more tales of prophecy, mysterious powers and magical healing lakes. Each of its eight songs pinpoints a specific moment from one 45-hour orbit of Ömon with atmospheric evocations of fleeting seasons and the rituals that accompany them.

Kuunatic’s imaginative flights of visiona.......
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