The Kundalini Target

Album Review

The Kundalini Target, Steve Cradock's first album outside Ocean Colour Scene, isn't remarkably dissimilar from his main band, not in its feel, tone, or touchstones, as it recalls almost every album OCS cut after Moseley Shoals, along with many of the Paul Weller albums that feature Cradock on guitar. There are subtle differences, particularly in how The Kundalini Target never rocks as hard as OCS did during their '90s prime. Instead, it shares a mellow, reflective bent with Weller's 2008 album 22 Dreams, but where the Modfather chronicled the seasons of life, Cradock is primarily concerned with reckoning with fatherhood, with the whole affair beginning as a song to his children. From such small beginnings, the project flowered into a sweetly intimate album, recalling the pastoral moments of Traffic crossed with Ronnie Lane's ramshackle folk, but most of all it recalls all of Cradock's other work, right down to how he sounds uncannily like Simon Fowler. So, it's the small details that matter with The Kundalini Target, especially in how it's infused with the loving paternal feel that emanates from the roots of the project, which gives the album considerable warmth and explains why it's a solo album, not another Ocean Colour Scene record.