When you get into math-rock as an artist, there seem to be two paths available to you: you can connect with the more twee, delicate roots of the genre in emo music or you can channel the swagger and groove of its brit-rock foundations. I had known nothing about Kambodsja before I was emailed about them (even though this is their fifth release and the fact that we've premeired them on the blog before) but from the first second of their upcoming album Resilient, it was obvious that they had chosen the meatier, groovier path. "Idlemind", which opens the album, is just as influenced by Manic Street Preachers as it is And So I Watch You From Afar, creating a track that is both dreamy and very present, catapulted forwards by the momentum created by the band's dedication to groove. Check it, and its trippy video, out below!
It's really not hard to identify why brit-rock is the genre that came to my mind first, regardless of whether the band had it in mind when writing the song. The noisy yet melancholic main guitar lead, the punk inflected derision of the vocals, the scintillating drums, all echo the verve of that genre. But then there's the explosive elation of the chorus, echoed in both the vibrancy of the guitars and the bright emotion of the vocals. Honestly, perhaps my comparison should have been to The Samuel Jackson Five, who share the home-country of Norway with Kambodsja. Regardless, the math/post rock explosion of the chorus really makes this track, contrasting neatly with the more frigid, aloof sensibilities of the chorus.
If you like what you here, Resilient releases on the 29th of September via the excellent Mas-Kina Recordings (Grant the Sun, Beaten to Death, She Said Destroy, and many more) and is filled to the brim with tracks just as good as this one. Seriously, I've hardly been able to put it down ever since I first heard it. Make sure to head on over to the band's Bandcamp to pre-order it once it's available.