Posted on: January 19, 2012 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Drawing from a collective mine of times and spaces, Prince Rama (made up of sisters Taraka and Nimai Larson) takes the threads of ancient symbolism and ritual and weaves a surreal universe that is wholly their own. Their often-unpredictable live shows graze the space between psychedelic ceremony, performance art and initiation rite.

Trust Now, their 5th full-length album and 2nd album to be released on Paw Tracks was born out of this fantastic ritual space. Spawned from the vernal heat of the Florida swamps amidst swirling patterns of pine orchards and pre-Columbian artifacts, Prince Rama was whispered into the ears of Taraka Larson, Nimai Larson, and Michael Collins in the summer of 2007 by the clanging of prayer bells and goat-skin drums. They left the Hare Krishna farm where they were living to attend art school and form a creative nucleus in Boston. The visceral, devotional and raw “Threshold Dances” and “Zetland” were released as the culminations of those early collaborations. At this time Taraka also began working for the controversial visionary artist Paul Laffoley, and inspired by his architectural diagrams of utopic space, composed Architecture of Utopia.

After a series of extensive tours (one of which resulted in a tragic car robbery where all their equipment got stolen), the trio moved to Brooklyn, rebuilt themselves from the ground up and wrote Shadow Temple, produced with the help of Avey Tare and Deakin of Animal Collective and released on Paw Tracks in September 2010.

A few months later, Michael Collins took a hiatus from the band and the two sisters went on to refine and reinvent their sound through the recording of Trust Now, recorded in a 19th century church with Scott Colburn (Sun City Girls, Animal Collective, Arcade Fire). Just this past year Prince Rama was also chosen to be artists in residence at Issue Project Room in Brooklyn, where they currently reside and continue their exploration of the link between music and utopia, conducting group exorcisms to the score of old VHS workout music and re-staging apocalypses through chopped and screwed pop songs.

PRINCE RAMA

02/23 Brooklyn, NY Glasslands *
03/06 Charlottesville, VA Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar
03/07 Knoxville, TN The Pilot Light
03/08 Savannah, GA Savannah Stopover Festival
03/13 – 03/17 Austin, TX SXSW
03/18 Dallas, TX Bro Fest 2012 @ Club Dada
03/19 Hot Springs, AR Valley of the Vapors Festival #
03/20 Lawrence, KS Jackpot Music Hall #
03/21 St. Louis, MO 2720 Cherokee #
03/22 Chicago, IL Hideout #
03/23 Cleveland, OH Happy Dog #
03/24 Pittsburgh, PA Assemble #
04/27 – 04/29 Austin, TX Austin Psych Fest

* = w/ Gary War, DJ set by Brian DeGraw (Gang Gang Dance)
# = w/ Psychic Ills

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