SURYA KRIS PETERS – THE HERMIT (Electric Magic LP)

Compiled from two previous digital only Electric Magic records releases (Status Flux and Moonstruck), The Hermit is the first LP from Surya Kris Peters. This is the solo project of Christian Peters, main brain of Samsara Blues Experiment and unlike the heavy Stoner Rock/Psychedelic Blues vibe of that band this is way more introspective, contemplative and evocative collection of music inspired by Krautrock, meditative Indian music and the sounds that soundtracked his earliest musical memories. Built on layers of instruments including various synthesizers, Fender Rhodes, electric organ, rhythm machines and electric and acoustic guitars along with more traditional/esoteric instrumentation including Irish bouzouki, sitar, harp, reed organ, gong, Tibetan singing bowl and bodhran, The Hermit is an album of eight aural explorations that invoke the early days of electronic music and the kind records that Virgin Records put out in their formative years along with the classic 1970s releases from Brain/Ohr records, to which Surya Kris Peters adds his own perspective creating warm, lush soundscapes that are both rooted to the mystery and magic of Mother Earth and from far beyond the stars.

Simply put, this is music for the higher spheres. The album opener, ‘Eremitage’ (from the Status Flux album), is a far out, Far East trip of drones, synth noise and tabla that explores the same sound space as 1970s German artists such as Popol Vuh and Klaus Schulze. Track two, ‘Ragamati’, continues in the same vain with the warm tones of a Fender Rhodes working in harmony with spiralling synthesizers. The whole album has been beautifully sequenced as tracks ebb and flow from Eastern flavoured tunes, through folk melodies, the beautiful ambience of the celestial ‘Snow Feather’, the oriental vibes of ‘Chandra Luna’(the stand out track on Moonstruck) to the gentle folk guitar of ‘La Morrina’. It’s a record that takes in influences from a range of artists such as French synthesizer drone-minimalist Eliane Radigue, 1970s Krautrock-pioneers Tangerine Dream, Cluster, Ash Ra Tempel and the previously mentioned Popol Vuh and Klaus Schulze, sounds from the Far East from the likes of Osamu Kitajima, Tomita and Ananda Shankar and early 70s British Prog/Experimental musicians such as Fripp & Eno, Mike Oldfield, Tim Blake and Steve Hillage but without being an exercise in nostalgia………it is a record that harks back to an era of ground breaking sonic experimentation but with a feel that is distinctly contemporary. The Hermit is a record of rare beauty which caught our ear immediately and a wonderful introduction to the music of Surya Kris Peters.

Due for release on 15^th April 2016 on Electric Magic Records and distributed by World In Sound records, The Hermit is available to pre-order from the Electric Magic online shop from 16/3/16. Available in a limited edition run of 100 copies on white vinyl with silk screened artwork and handwritten labels………not so much an album but true work of art and soon a collectors item!

THEE PSYCHEDELICATESSEN