Land Of Kali

43 years passed between English post-punk group Essential Logics 1979 debut Beat Rhythm News: Waddle Ya Play? and Land of Kali, the next album-length release of new studio material to bear the bands name. Founder/leader Lora Logic was anything but musically dormant during those decades, and her presence is so unique that even the passing of that much time cant dim the personality and odd charm exhibited on these songs. Land of Kali opens with "Prayer for Peace," a reworking of a tune from X-Ray Spexs 1995 comeback bid Conscious Consumer. Logic and her friend Poly Styrene co-founded X-Ray Spex as teenage punks, and by the early 80s both were deeply involved in a Hare Krishna organization. Both worked on the original rendition of "Prayer for Peace" and the Essential Logic version ties Krishna chants into its even-keeled groove. Logics energetic sax playing shows up on many tunes here, adding the same accents of fun and curiosity to smooth and synthy moments like "Alien Boys" as it did to the bands more jagged early material. Co-production from Youth makes Land of Kali anything but jagged, with a lot of tracks in the midsection leaning into deep dub bass, slick electronics, and moments where Logics perpetually punk sensibilities meet R&B undercurrents. The title track is marked by bright and busy horn sections, and "Sky Rocket" (a song written with Logics daughter Malini) ponders mortality and spirituality over a slinky, high gloss instrumental. Listeners expecting new revisions of "Aerosol Burns" will be disappointed by Land of Kalis lack of chaos. However, those who have been paying attention to her abundant depth will appreciate the album as another chapter in Logics ongoing evolution, one that celebrates her ability to be strange, mercurial, and refined all at the same time. ~ Fred Thomas