Coolonaut Delivers a Psychedelic Statement with “Karma Smile”

There’s something quietly defiant about Karma Smile. In an age of pristine plugins, algorithm friendly choruses, and safely ambiguous lyrics, Coolonaut has chosen a far less comfortable route, analogue tape, fixed creative limits, and songs that actually take a position. The result is an album that feels less like a retro exercise and more like a moral document smuggled out of another era and dropped into our present moment.

Recorded and produced entirely by Coolonaut on an analogue 8 track machine in rural Australia, Karma Smile wears its methods proudly. You can hear the decisions being made in real time, the saturation, the bleed, the slight unpredictability that only tape can deliver. Rather than sounding dated, the album feels grounded, as if the music has weight and consequence rather than existing as endlessly editable data.

Sonically, the record draws deep from mid to late 60s psychedelic and mod traditions, but it never slips into cosplay. The melodies are sharp, the arrangements purposeful, and the psychedelic elements are used to heighten emotion rather than blur it. There’s colour and wit here, flashes of humour, character sketches, and personal memory, but they sit alongside a much darker current.

That darkness is the album’s driving force. Karma Smile is unapologetically political, fuelled by anger at what Coolonaut sees as a world numbed to violence and injustice. Where much contemporary rock opts for vague platitudes or inward looking confessionals, this album looks outward, challenging the silence of mainstream voices and refusing to soften its message. The belief in eventual karmic reckoning, for perpetrators and enablers alike, gives the record its title and its emotional spine.

Importantly, the music never buckles under the weight of its intent. These are songs first and foremost, tightly constructed, melodically rich, and disciplined by the very limitations that define their sound. The analogue process doesn’t just shape the aesthetic, it reinforces the album’s philosophy, that commitment, risk, and conviction still matter.

Karma Smile won’t be for everyone, and it doesn’t want to be. But for listeners who miss music that stands for something, that embraces imperfection and speaks with clarity rather than caution, Coolonaut’s third LP feels both necessary and bracingly alive.

Discover more, follow the journey, and dive deeper into Coolonaut’s world. Connect on social platforms and streaming services to experience the full scope of Karma Smile.