Antisthenes, the Greek philosopher and famed pupil of the original master of thinking, Socrates, once said many, many sleeps ago, “When brothers agree, no fortress is so strong as their common life.” But for the brothers Kora – Laughton, Stuart, Francis and Brad – life is anything but common these days.
Kora, a rambunctiously energetic funk and bass collective from Whakatane, New Zealand, have just released their sophomore album Light Years to critical acclaim and much fanfare – and they’re getting ready to bring their delicious harmonies and infectious rhythms across the Tasman to the Australian masses, in turn unleashing a kick-ass party while they’re at it.
The brothers Kora, alongside their brother-in-arms Dan McGruer, have taken their sound in new and exciting directions on Light Years. They’ve maintained their funky and psychedelic vibes, but have seamlessly spliced in a more electronic sensibility, with space-age synths, samples and programmed instrumentation making their way to the forefront of Kora’s sonic assault. There’s a phrase the band use to describe this sound: “Alien Funk”.
Taking a brief break from rehearsals, Francis Kora laughs loudly over the phone from the Long White Cloud when I mention the term to him. “Ha! That’s a concept: alien funk, space funk!” he guffaws. “You know, to be honest, it was something someone had mentioned, that ‘alien funk’. There’re just so many themes and styles in [Light Years], and it’s a good answer to give to the question, ‘What’s the genre of the music?’ And it’s an easy answer for us to give, to say, ‘It’s alien funk!’ and then they ask, ‘Oh, what’s alien funk?’
“Listen to this,” he continues, “it is what it is! It’s funny, because ‘alien funk’ was supposed to be an easy way out of that ‘what genre is the music?’ question!”
Kora’s musical journey began at an early age. The brothers’ father was a well-respected local musician in his own right, and he decided that the boys were going to learn how to play music. “I think I was about eight when he started to teach us,” recalls Kora. The teaching, though sometimes rather strict, was sound: “Me and my brothers were in a band called Auntie Beatrice in the early ‘90s,” Kora explains, “and we won a band competition!”
Laughton and Dan, whilst living in Queenstown, had played together in a band called Soul Charge in the early 2000s, releasing a four track demo and getting some attention. Soon after, the other three brothers joined, and Kora was born. Their debut self-titled record was released in 2007 – and went double-platinum in the process.
Kora is rather nonchalant when I ask him about the five year wait between records. What have they been up to during that time? “Oh, it was just a timing thing,” he explains casually. “[We’re] all family dudes, and we’ve all got interests outside of the band!”
Light Years was originally supposed to have been released in 2011, but the band had to put things on hold for a while as they went through a change in management – “You know how it is, mate!” Kora laughs – but now that it’s finally seen the light of day, it’s topped the number one position on iTunes New Zealand and boasts impressive sales figures.
From the soaring synths and old school hip hop beats of the first (and appropriately titled) single off the record, Story Ain’t Over, to the 8-bit video game chippy sounds of Dream Life, Light Years is a meaty and stylish – yet still quite organic – dish of grooves, rhythms, vocal acrobatics and clever sound effects.
I ask Kora about the sound itself, and if it was a conscious decision to take their guitar-heavy music in a new direction or if they just decided that the vibe would work better with synths and programmed beats. “Oh man, I think that was the longest part of the whole process, mate!” Kora beams. “Our songs at the beginning were very guitar-based – but then we thought we’d change [the songs] to synthesisers. The songs [in the beginning] did not sound like they do now. We realised we could make the synths sound heavy and guitar-driven, more like rock songs.
“You know when you’ve got a distorted guitar, and it automatically puts the sound to ‘rock’? Well, we just wanted the sounds to be more flexible – and it was an easy way for us to hit something quite beautiful from the beginning to the end of the album!”
When I mention a quote from The Human League’s Phil Oakey about “hurling the guitars out the window and purchasing synthesisers”, Kora sounds aghast. “Oh, we’re still into the guitars, mate! Don’t get me wrong!”
Finally we get to talking about the upcoming album launch here on our shores. What’s their live show going to be like? I tell Kora I’m picturing some serious sci-fi visuals to go with the album’s distinctly otherworldly flair.
“Oh, it’s going to be a high energy show,” Kora laughs. “Not too many visuals as such, but there’s going to be a lot of lights!
“Not too sure, mate, I’ll be too busy focusing on the music!”
BY THOMAS BAILEY
