Amplifier

Light Years

It's been four years since Kora launched its self-titled, worlds-colliding debut album, that connected the dots between funk, rock, reggae, metal, hip hop and electronic rhythms. Now this five-strong collective of fearless sonic explorers have discovered a whole new constellation of future-shocked funk, soul and r'n'b – dubbing it 'alien funk'.

Kora's anticipated new album Light Years steps into the unknown on a bass odyssey, eschewing guitars in favour of a high-tech arsenal of synthesisers, live and sampled drums plus the otherworldly four-part harmonies of the brothers Laughton, Francis, Stuart and Brad Kora and brother-in-arms Dan McGruer.

Reactions have been stellar. The marriage of live and programmed instrumentation powers the unstoppable groove that continues to drive Kora, providing the sci-fi soundtrack to a collective fascination with video game culture, cosmology and space exploration.

Recorded in Dan's inner-city Auckland studio, Light Years steps into the unknown on a bass odyssey four years in the making, eschewing guitars in favour of a high-tech arsenal of synthesisers, live and sampled drums, plus the otherworldly four-part harmonies of the brothers Kora. This marriage of live and programmed instrumentation powers the unstoppable groove that continues to drive Kora, providing the sci-fi soundtrack to a collective fascination with video game culture, cosmology and space exploration.

Since the runaway success of Kora's last album, which reached double platinum status in New Zealand, hardcore fans have been regularly flocking to the band's sell out shows – and been hanging out to get a taste of the final frontier. And now their chance to be transported again by this experimental funk collective has finally arrived.