Album Review: Samsara by Los Coast

The debut long-player from the eclectic Austin-based combo, Samsara delivers a rich and hip-shaking amalgam of pop, soul, R&B, funk, gospel, and psychedelic rock. An assured effort, especially for an inaugural release, the 13-track set bristles with intent, yet plays with its quarry like a bored house cat. "Monsters," which evokes the Heavy's "How You Like Me Now" by way of the Fixx's "One Thing Leads to Another," makes for a bold and brawny opener and segues nicely into the like-minded lead single "Testify." Both cuts make a strong case for Los Coast's reputation as a voltaic live band, and allow frontman Trey Pivott, who sounds like an amalgam of Cee Lo Green, Wilson Pickett, and Mystikal, to channel his Southern Baptist upbringing.

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The lead single for this debut album is "Simplify," but there's another title that best sums up this vast and varied outing from the fast-rising Austin quintet: "(Everything but) the Kitchen Sink. " Los Coast built a reputation as a thrilling live band that can be hard to peg musically, and true to form, from the bone-rattling psych rock of "Monsters" to the sun-kissed synth-funk of "Graves" and progressive folk of "Chesapeake," they chuck it all into the basin on Samsara. Frontman Trey Privott reveals his Southern Baptist roots by going full-preacher mode on gospel shakedown "Masquerade" and delivers scattershot rhymes (more Anthony Kiedis than Kendrick Lamar) on the aforementioned "Kitchen Sink.

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