Outside In release new album Karmatrain

Auckland prog-rockers Outside In have just unveiled their debut album, Karmatrain, a 12-track journey that pulls the listener through a spectrum of emotions and sounds – from intense grit, gloom and poignancy to potent and climatic psychedelic euphoria.

The band, featuring members Mikey Brown, Adam Tobeck, Jonnie Barnard, Elliott Seung Il Park and Joe Park, have a wealth of musical experience between them, with both Mikey and Jonnie playing for Blackbird Ensemble, and Adam touring as drummer for The Beths during their US tour. Together, the five produce an exhilarating sound that plays around with time signatures and non-traditional song structures.

While collectively Outside In pull inspiration from the likes of Thom Yorke, A Perfect Circle and Pink Floyd, front-man Mikey explains that it was actually a book that served as the muse for most of the tracks on Karmatrain:

“When going through a collection of potential songs for the album, I realised a few were lyrically influenced by a novel I’d read while on holiday in Nice about ten years ago, Hermann Hesse’s ‘Siddhartha’. The album has ended up with each of the 12 songs representing one of the 12 chapters from the book. Each song has a story that relates to that chapter, but also has a parallel story from my own experiences. It sounds pretentious as fuck to be honest but the album genuinely, gradually evolved into a more conceptual thing and it just made sense so I committed.”

Outside In formed in 2012 and have previously released an EP, The Nature of Deams, in 2015.

Listen to Karmatrain below: