“Bambara have evolved from Birthday Party-ish post punk to the more melodic Birthmarks. Letters To Sing Sing thunders along like Fontaines DC, Face Of Love’s crepuscular funk is laced with MBV-style guitars while Elena’s Dream haunts with Twin Peaks disquiet. An enthralling fever dream of an album. ****” – MOJO
“Birthmarks” is a reincarnation of sorts for the trio – twin brothers Reid (vocals) and Blaze Bateh (drums), alongside childhood friend William Brookshire (bass) – altogether. Five years removed from “Stray”, and three from their 2022 EP “Love On My Mind”, “Birthmarks” inevitably arrives with the weight of a new chapter after a lengthy absence. Long ago having established their brand of magnetic darkness – equally formed by the grit of their adopted New York City home and the mysterious corners of the Georgian swamps that raised them – Bambara found themselves in a period of slow, laborious evolution. Birthmarks emerges directly from the band’s favoured aesthetics and themes but captures them with a new sense of sonic adventurousness and thematic subtlety, resulting in a collection of songs that are somehow both the band’s most apocalyptic and most poignant.