Half In, Half Out – The Kundalini Genie (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

The single Half In, Half Out, was the perfect teaser for the album of the same name. Its psychedelic grooves and rock moves were great, obviously, but the louche swagger and wilfully lazy vibes made you wonder about the contents of any album that this track was part of. Is this the sonic pinnacle of an altogether more chilled album or perhaps the understated moment of an acid-laced sonic tsunami?

The answer is both…or perhaps neither… and everything in between. By that I mean that if you take the trippy nature of that leading track as a central point, the album seems to spread out in all directions, exploratory spokes shooting out from this exotic musical hub.

There are wonderfully weighty moments such as Honey, a mind-boggling, scuzzy, blues trip delivered with a perfect punch and there are lighter and slightly understated tracks such as the wonderfully titled It Didn’t Mean That Much (To Mean That Much to You). And then between such sonic points are blends of the two, Stupid Girl being a power-pop bopper, 60’s sounding, harmony drenched but lifted above such nostalgic realms by just being a real cracker of a song and the hazy-fest that is So Far Away

But the thing that marks the album’s skill is that whilst navigating this broad musical spectrum the overall groove remains mid-paced and mannered, the band using it to be able to make an impact without breaking into a sweat and getting too hot and bothered. In a word, retaining their cool and dignity.

And cool is key here. Cool is not something you can work at, you either have it or you don’t. If you crave coolness you will never achieve it. The Kundalini Genie, not to mention its driving force Robbie Wilson, probably don’t realise just how cool they are, and effortlessly so…which is the only type of cool worth acknowledging.