BELLA1641 // 14 March 2025

An extraordinary, nocturnally-inclined modernist rock band drenched in Southern Gothic, Bambara have evolved their macabre vision to perfection with their fifth album Birthmarks. Created in collaboration with co-producer Graham Sutton from UK experimental pioneers Bark Psychosis (a man also heavily responsible for the groundbreaking These New Puritans records), it’s not so much a concept album as a stunningly complex work of narrative fiction, featuring memorable characters including the aforementioned C&W karaoke-bar siren with halo-braided hair and a one-eyed murderer begging for the electric chair – all not exactly set to music, but actually born from it.