You Found Yourself Where You Found Yourself

Heavy but not metal, soothing and textural but not ambient, they fell between worlds, carving out their own unique niche. Then, in 2017, after three albums (on the Low Point and Lancashire & Somerset labels) and multiple tours they quietly disappeared.

Two-thirds of the band relocated to South Shropshire in 2022. This should have signalled the end for Kogumaza forever, but instead they began playing together again when time would allow. Immediately the music was quieter, more introspective and calmer than it had been before, mirroring how the band started out: two electric guitars and snare-less, tympani-style drums.

A set of songs came together that would become “You Found Yourself Where You Found Yourself”.

Recorded over a week at a remote mill in Wales, “You Found Yourself…” is as though the listener is sitting amongst the group as they play. It is intimate, open and engaging.

The band’s strength lies in patience, slowly morphing simple melodies and phrases through repetition and tonal shifts until their meaning changes or evaporates entirely. Whereas much music dubbed “psychedelic” expands outward on a theme in density and intensity, Kogumaza instead bury deeper and deeper, reducing an idea until it reaches a singular, beautiful core.