Features Mozam Beaks

Listening to Mozam Beaks is a how I imagine walking through the Amazon rainforest might feel. A walk through the Amazon rainforest via a quick stop off at the desert, a swift excursion to the deepest depths of the ocean, and a mini break to outer-space, that is. It’s so vastly good and widespread in musical influence that only a hypothetical trip as varied and exciting as this must be its only valid ‘real life’ comparison.

Veering through out-and-out psychedelia, and stopping off at prog-rock, disco, ‘world’ music, electronica, and krautrock along the way, Mozam Beaks ticks most of the musical genre boxes at some point or another yet never feels even close to over-complicated, pretentious or plain-old rubbish. Quite the opposite.

The songs have an almost indescribably great ‘feel’ to them, and their construction is consistently absolutely spot-on. Tracks like ‘Sons Of The A La Mode’ and ‘Hot Tropics’ - both available from Bandcamp for free - follow similar structures: both allowing guitar solos, delicate elevator-like tinkling and carefully worked synth lines take turn to ride atop the song’s foundations of often bouncing, buzzing, or squelching bass, plopping bongo taps, and ambient, whistling rainforest sounds. Everything is perfectly timed, placed, and judged. ‘Liquid Smoke’ changes things slightly - a simple drum machine beat sits beside both bleeping and whirring synth sounds and a disco bass-line to predictably equally great effect.

Most artists would fall foul working with so many different sounds, but Mozam Beaks pulls it off seemingly entirely effortless. It’s genius, near-perfect, and, although apparently currently under-appreciated, it can’t long until some super-cool labels come a-knockin’.

Cremé de la Kremlin by Mozam Beaks