Looking like rock gods-in-waiting is unlikely to do Berkshire four-piece Sundara Karma much harm, and neither is frontman Oscar Pollock’s androgynous image. It’s a shame, then, that their songs are so much less noteworthy. Their debut album starts brightly enough, the Foals-like Loveblood fizzing with energy and the harmonies of Happy Family’s intro evoking Fleet Foxes. They fail to sustain the quality throughout, however, and too often seem to have set a course for Arcade Fire transcendence only to end up mired in Coldplay/Mumfords stadium-indie mediocrity. There’s promise here, but ultimately too little to mark them out from the rest of the pack.
