After many years full of uncertainty and difficulties, My Sleeping Karma finally return and present us with one of their best works to date. The band was not sure if the album would even see the light of day, but it finally does and is once again a display of the incredible musicianship of the German four-piece.
When My Sleeping Karma announced, after a long radio silence, that they would return to the stage in 2021 and also announced a hometown show in Aschaffenburg (which is also basically the base of operation of Veil of Sound) I couldn’t contain my excitement and had to be at that show. Now, a year later, their new album Atma is finally about to be released and it was worth while the wait.
When the band posted in 2019 about the cancellation of all their shows in the foreseeable future, because of a serious illness of one of their members, it looked more than grim for the future of My Sleeping Karma and then 2020 hit. So it basically went from worst to catastrophic. All this despair and darkness definitely shows on Atma, yet the band manages to sprinkle in the ever-so-faint rays of light and hope.
With six songs and almost 50 minutes running time you know what to expect from one of the most mesmerizing bands out there. From the very first beat every fan should instantly feel at home. My Sleeping Karma have mastered their sound many albums ago, yet they are refining it ever so slightly and incorporate new elements into their soundscapes.
Their music always has this flow to it, that entrances you and takes you to different places around the sonic universe. Their live shows capture this feeling even better, as the show is accompanied by a fantastic light show and many visual elements, as the band takes a step back and as their music speaks for itself. Seppi (guitar) once told me that he prefers their live shows over their albums, because their music is then much more tangible and felt flowing through one’s whole body and if you’ve seen these guys live before, you can certainly attest to this.
Atma is full of interesting musical ideas, soundscapes and there is always something new to discover with every spin. Seppi’s dense guitar sounds, combined with Matte’s rumbling bass and Steffen’s punchy drums often have Norman playing above them all and sprinkling little flourishes throughout the song.
Fans of My Sleeping Karma, me included, have waited so long for this new album and while it took a long time to see the light of day and there were many high obstacles in the way, it was truly worth the wait and is a must listen for every fan of mesmerizing psychedelic heavy post-rock. Keep up the good karma.
