On their most recent EP, Beacon band Cosmokaze opt for textures over riffs, swells over singable melodies. On the first track, “Lunar Drift,” a listener might be waiting for something to happen, a beat to drop, a riff to start churning. But with Cosmokaze, masters of the build, minutes pass before you wake up to the fact you’re in the middle of an enveloping cacophony, expansive and (like the title of both and song and band suggests), boundless. In the EP’s short time frame (under 20 minutes), Cosmokaze pack in plenty of dramatism. “Serengeti Dreams” is one big crescendo, underscored by a hypnotic percussion pattern. Underneath the space-age electronics and jangly electric guitars, the one rhythm persists. The final track, “Circular Sea,” deploys sitar, with wave after wave of strums, and only hints at tappable rhythms amidst the wash. Overall, Triptych is a study of landscapes, vast seas, and foreboding outer space, translating them into sounds both strange and serene.
This article appears in August 2026.
