Karma Queen Shows its Teeth on Excellent New Record, ‘Sharp Tongue’

With their good looks and radio-ready sound, it’s easy at first blush to consider Buffalo’s Karma Queen a supremely talented, albeit safe, indie pop band.

But when you actually stop and scratch beneath the surface, and listen to what this group is saying, it doesn’t take long to realize: Karma Queen is a band with some significant bite.

No, we’re not going to go so far as to call them subversive. But, they are definitely contumacious. And thankfully, the band’s rebelliousness shows up in spades on its new EP, ‘Sharp Tongue,’ a sneering three-song follow-up to 2023’s ‘Projector.’

“I like to write lyrics with some bite to them, especially when they’re disguised with catchy melodies,” said frontwoman Kaley Lynch. “‘Sharp Tongue’ is really about speaking from a place of anger, and how it can hurt both the speaker and the recipient.”

The bite of ‘Sharp Tongue’ is veiled, cloaked under Annie Lynch’s hypnotic lead guitar work and grounded in a solid rhythmic foundation masterly constructed by Michael Militello (bass), Evan Kaminski (drums, Bari sax) and Mark Niewiemski (drums/keys).

But the brilliance to this record is that while its bite is concealed, its snarl is never not palpable — a juxtaposition that creates an engaging contrast for the listener.

“Sonically, we had some new ideas that we were testing out when recording ‘Sharp Tongue,’ building off some of that foundation we discovered while recording ‘Projector,’” said Kaminski. “It was an awesome process.”

“These songs also got to see some live-performance action and feedback before we got them into the recording process,” added Militello. “I think there was some fun in watching the songs on ‘Sharp Tongue’ take on different versions before their final form. In ‘Projector,’ the majority of mixing in the recording was done in-house, while these songs involved more studio locations.”   

‘Sharp Tongue’ was recorded and produced by Ken Rutkowski at Outer Limit Recording Studio in Cheektowaga, with vocals recorded by Jay Zubricky at GCR Audio. The release marks Karma Queen’s first since adding Niewiemski, who joined the band in late 2024.

“Recording our last album really highlighted the need for a fifth member,” Kaminski said. “Creating sax lines was such a drag because so long as I was behind the kit we'd never be able to play them live. Adding Mark has given us that opportunity to close the gap between how our song is recorded and how it sounds live — not to mention adding that extra layer to our sound on the keys. Now that Mark is fully on board, it feels like our sound is really starting to lock in. There's less focus on ‘what can we perform live’ and more of a focus on ‘how do we want this track to sound?’

“There are a couple originals of ours that I felt were livened up with Mark’s musicality, especially ‘Burn Book,’” added Annie. “We’ve incorporated electric and acoustic drums previously and he has a hybrid drum kit which allows for so many possibilities. One of my favorite parts about playing these songs, as well as cover songs, live is hearing the addition of double-bass pedal, cowbell, and clap stack. I love the variety of texture.”

As for the tracks that comprise ‘Sharp Tongue,’ Kaley said ‘Appetite’ “examines a mutually destructive relationship where both parties are feeding off of each other for attention.” Meanwhile, ‘Final Girl,’ which was the band’s lead single from the record, is “a revenge fantasy against a serial abuser.”

The EP closes with the excellent ‘Swindle’ — a song that takes Karma Queen in a bit of a different direction sonically, featuring a deep, plodding bass groove accompanied by an ominous sax that Kaley describes as “a rumination on a relationship where it’s not clear whether or not both people are trying to ‘scam’ each other.”

“When conceptualizing this tune,” said Kaminski, “I wanted to take a page from Charles Mingus and add a lot of moving parts. Instrumentation shifts priority in the mix, misleading what should be the focus, essentially creating a ‘Swindle’ of sound. There's so much more to explore sonically, but I'd love to make another song like this!”

“I recall Ev sending me the bass part for this song with the three sections and I really enjoyed the distinct feel of each and movement from one to the next,” said Annie. “That night, I came up with a guitar part, a counter-melody for the first and third section and some chords to vamp on for the second section. Hearing it all come together with the drums and sax was a really neat experience. This one is definitely one of my favorites to play live.”

If there’s any fault to be found in ‘Sharpe Tongue,’ it’s that at three songs, you’re left wanting more. Hopefully, Karma Queen has more coming soon. After all, there’s a lot these days to snarl at and we welcome the band’s bite.

‘Sharp Tongue’ can now be heard on all streaming platforms.