Altered Zones

By Ric Leichtung

The once duo, then trio (with Michael Collins), now duo of sisters Taraka and Nimai Larson have spent the past few years making jaws drop with their Eastern-tinged avant-psych at DIY venues across the country. In 2010, at SxSW, they happened to play a show that was attended by Animal Collective's Avey Tare. They were invited onto the Paw Tracks roster alongside Black Dice, Excepter, Ariel Pink, and other AnCo brethren skilled at negotiating between experimentalism with accessibility and resonating with noise obsessives and armchair indie-ists alike.

With so many bands blurring into one another these days-- be it in genre, fashion style, or buzz-story (totally anonymous bedroom producer who's only 17 years old!)-- uniqueness is truly a rare thing. But there's still nothing out there that sounds quite like Prince Rama (yet). Their music is challenging. Lyrics are sung in a mix of English-- something once rarely heard on Rama records-- and another language penned by the duo's songwriter, Taraka Larson. Laugh all you want about the concept of a constructed language, but Taraka's abstract expression doesn't feel snobby like Hopelandic or sound like Klingon gobbledygook. In standouts like "Summer of Love" and "Rest In Peace," she sings with an unbridled emotion that bridges the gap between the languages as if they were one and the same.

Rama's followers know the sisters were raised Hare Krishna, and you can hear it in Trust Now's double harmonic and arabic modes. So while to some ears the Eastern scales will resemble a sound forced from exotic, far away lands, these augmented steps and minor 6ths come from an intuitive place. It's hard to ignore the entrancing vocal and synth lines on tracks like "Incarnation" and "Golden Silence," but you'll find most of the musical thrills in Rama's drums. Juggling tempo shifts and polyrhythms on a kit that includes every drum imaginable, Nimai delivers contrapuntal melodies with a subtlety that's usually heard from the human voice. There's a lot to digest on Trust Now, even at just six tracks; you can hear the blood, sweat, and tears that went into crafting the twists and turns of centerpieces "Trust" and "Portaling." It's likely you won't come across an album as engaging and challenging as this until Rama's next.

Prince Rama: Trust Now

Pre-order Trust Now from Insound