Dätcha Mandala – Koda

 

 

Dätcha Mandala – Koda
Discos Macarras Records – 2024
Rock, Hard, Seventies, Blues, Classic, Stoner, Pop
Rated: ****

There’s something so bittersweet and wonderful about the slow and steady progress, development and evolution a band can go through. There are listeners that come in at a later state and go back to discover how it all started. There are the ones that started at the very beginning and go with them through every stage. And of course, everyone is entitled to feel whatever they feel about those changes. A few that have difficulty accepting change. Those last music loving crazies will have trouble keeping up with the grandiose Bordeaux, France three called Dätcha Mandala. For on Koda they’ve taken yet another giant leap in progression of their art. Production wise, composition wise and perhaps even more so when it comes to delivering such ear pleasing rock that it’s difficult to come to grips with the fact that this band will not be exploding out of the Heavy Underground. Why not you ask, when it is so catchy? Well, they’ve chosen to do that hardrock thing, that classic rock thing, that blues infused, seventies inspired rocking. And even though you and I will agree that it’s the most honest, pure and lovely form of delivering the riffs and the rock, it is not the kind that will easily go big. Even though Wild Fire could easily have been a big hit by The Black Keys. Om Namah Shivaya, with its swagger, a muddy Black Crowes rocker. Or when you listen to opener She Said and are remembered of so many bands and sounds that it constantly throws you a curveball, earworm and all and you just cannot stop yourself from listening to it. Title track Koda follows, almost going the way of Muse, the track feels even bigger in the sense of gestures and the manner in which it can seize you whole. Prog touched, and with such incredible instrumentation, its another early highlight. But the highlights keep on coming, cause the Koda album keeps on giving. They shapeshift, change color, but keep the overreaching Dätcha Mandala vibe going. Just listen to The Wanderer, which goes big in the way of pop sensibility, turning an eighties turn in the beginning, yet has gravitas and heaviness thanks to the guitar tone, the riffage and the lumbering giant end. Majestically written and composed. We can even forgive them for the bit too cheesy Love Myself, even though the message is admirable, the music feels so light in weight and color when it starts out, that you while listening, you might accidentally take flight. But of course, this kind of sun dappled songs will do exceptionally well during those midday sets on a summer festival, and I would not mind at all hearing it on any or all of them. And on some level they might have found it a bit too sugary as well perhaps? Cause they immediately go more punk, with even a starting belch and a riveting, energetic punch and kick during the following Thousand Pieces. It’s Not Only Rock And Roll, has a weird flow during the refrains, brings you minor Eastern motifs and an absolute brilliant ending, building and delivering and sending you off towards a genuine ballad called Julietta. But Julietta has heart and a raw electricity to it. It’s not a ballad to be taking lightly. End track Homeland brings you full circle, home indeed. And on some level to the Dätcha Mandala you might or might not know. For on many levels it does remind more of the earlier Dätcha Mandala sound, yet it also goes back to the earlier tracks on the album and yet, paradoxically enough also might sound like what the band might turn into on a future album. Heavy footfalls, aired out by guitar licks that take flight and double vocals, both growling and emotive as they have been throughout the album. With Homeland they give us a song to feel completely comfortable with, and a future to look out for. And with Koda as a whole, they have once again drawn us a house to live in and given us enough colors to do endless dances with…

(Written by JK)

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