New Music: Karate, Guns & Tanning – Loons

I don’t know if it’s an actual loon at the start of this new song from Karate, Guns & Tanning, but the crow-like exclamation sets in place its eerie tone.

A featured track on the upcoming Krisis Genre LP, it finds the Indianapolis outfit bringing a sense of urgency and alarm to their sound.

Electronics play a large role in Loons, though the overall sense is of rock that builds on a groove that becomes at times anthemic, but never loses its intimate, hypnotic, and Lovecraftian nature. Is anthemic kosmischemusik a thing? Is this it? What I do know is that Loons rocks – and rocks hard in a cosmic style.

Talking about Loons, the band states, “Hunter S. Thompson called the poet Ron Whitehead ‘crazy as nine loons.’ We’ve always been inspired by Thompson’s work, and the symbolism of the common loon is so alluring. Using bird sounds on the song was an obvious choice while detailing a fantastical look at the Great Northern Diver. It’s a constant pulse of mystery and maybe even danger.”

Krisis Genre is out on the 23rd of May and can be pre-ordered on Bandcamp, while Loons and previous single Glassy  – which will also appear on the album – can be heard on Spotify and SoundCloud. Learn more about the album and Karate, Guns & Tanning by heading over to their Facebook and Instagram socials.

Header photo by Paige Mullins