Psych-rock once more brushes against tradition on ‘Wheels of Ömon‘ (out on 11th April 2025 on Glitterbeat), the highly anticipated second album from Kuunatic, a Japanese trio featuring Fumi Kikuchi on keyboards, Shoko Yoshida on bass and Yuko Araki on drums; all three also sing. Their debut album, ‘Gate of Klüna‘, which dropped in 2021, was described as a mix of psychedelic garage and prog rock, ritual drumming, chanting female vocals, lush keyboard textures and traditional Japanese folk instruments.
‘Wheels of Ömon’ continues their debut’s mythic tale of the planet Kuurandia and their first single, Disembodied Ternion, is out now. Throughout the album, Kuunatic make varied use of Japanese traditional instruments, including the sho, a Japanese traditional instrument consisting of 17 slender bamboo pipes that are used in gagaku, Japanese ancient court music (that also begins and ends the album). They also play chappa (hand-sized cymbals used at temple rituals or festivals), sasara (a percussion instrument of 108 wooden plates strung with a cotton cord), ryuteki (a flute used in gagaku), kagurabue (a flute used for Japanese traditional shrine music) ougidaiko (a fan-shaped hand drum), kokiriko (small bamboo stick instruments), and wadaiko (a huge traditional drum that has been used for rituals or festivals since ancient times).
Kuunatic will make a welcome return to the UK in April for a 4-date tour, starting in London on 20 April, with shows in Bristol, Glasgow and Manchester.
Kuunatic UK Dates
Sun 20 April 2025 – Hootananny, London
Mon 21 April 2025 – The Exchange, Bristol
Tue 22 April 2025 – Mono, Glasgow
Wed 23 April 2025 – Yes (Basement), Manchester
‘Wheels of Ömon’ is out 11 April 2025 on Glitterbeat
Pre-order on Bandcamp: https://kuunatic.bandcamp.com/album/wheels-of-mon