Suns Of Arqa – Heart Of The Suns: 1979-2019

Interchill

It’s incredible to think that Suns Of Arqa have been making music for forty years now. I first came across them at the start of the 1990s when they were being lumped in with other ambient dance artists such as The Orb, Future Sound of London and Banco de Gaia as that scene exploded in 1991. So here is Heart Of The Suns, a thirteen-track celebration that tries to cover some of what the Suns have done over the years.

The album opens with “Gavati”, a track that particularly hit me at the time of its release in 1992 as I was leafing my way through Muzz Murray’s book Seeking The Master – A Guide To The Ashrams of India and dreaming of my first visit to the subcontinent. Sarangi and tablas mix effortlessly with the more dub elements of bass and drums in what is for me the signature Suns of Arqa sound. This has you dreaming by the Ganges as the busy pace of life happens around you and the sun sets over the water. “Heart Of The Suns” starts with a beautiful drone, which again makes you want to drift in a blissful energy; slowly, other acoustic instruments come in, as does a sampled chanting voice. The overall feel of the track is one of devotion, while here the dub elements are not so prominent, but you are carried on a wave of positive energies to the life source of our planet.

“The Lama Geshe” gives us a Tibetan Buddhist vibe as chanting voices call to the mountains as Nicolas Magriel’s sarangi plays beautifully over Wadada’s throbbing bass, and some curious percussion adds to its exotic blend of sounds. Here are the Suns going to the edge of ragas and merging it with the slight buzz of electronica. “Gawati” takes on a more solitary mood as the sarangi and bass chime against each other, with some psychedelic backward masking to help open up your third eye. “Sul-E-Stomp” is a full-on ambient track that certainly fits in well with other artists from the period and is mixed by Astralasia’s Swordfish, full of swirling synth rhythms and a big bass drum beat that would have got you up and on the dance floor at Megadog.

Radio signals herald “Ahuras Fravashis (Ambient Edit)” as what sounds like a flute is played over distant voices and various bleeps appear as a singular synth sound collides with planets over the top. The Orb’s Youth remixes “Whirling Forest”, and with its pulsating synth sound and steady rhythmic beat, it feels like the sound you hear from a distance in the jungle as you approach a Goa trance party in the early evening. The flute on this is particularly beautiful and the sound of sampled bird sounds takes you deep into the jungle of your mind, then back to those glorious spring evenings near the beach in India.

“Dreadquong” has more of a tribal dawn feel to it; here, the dub rhythm is back and this time it is the backbeat to beautiful lullaby-sounding vocals. We watch the sun rise and the stars slowly recede as the light of a new day appears. “Sanskrit Hymn” is a stunning piece with some glorious vocals that make you want to meditate on the universe for a while. The flute opening to “Ageing – Mimansa” is rather wonderful and reminds me of the playing of Nawang Khechog. When the chiming sounds and soft synth pads come in, you are transported to a heavenly realm where your mind is at peace. This is the music of the Himalaya played out like the soundtrack to the film Baraka.

“Kalavati Alap” uses drones and flutes again as its central premise, and captures the feel of the early morning traveller making their way through parts of the mountainous regions in the north of the country as the landscape is unveiled before them. The flute plays an alluring array of notes while the other instruments give the feeling of serenity. “Cosmic Jugalbandi” is music for those midday meditations at the ashram while the great mother river passes by, carrying the weight of everything she has collected from the mountains until she meets the sea in the south. The flute plays a raga as the world rages around it. Voices sound triumphant over steady synth pads at the start of “Formorian”, and tablas come in and add a beatific sense of rhythm to what is a fairly languid piece.

Compilation albums are always hard to review, because you always think there is something missing from them; especially when the tracks are chosen to cover such a long period of time, and maybe the essence gets distilled a bit. This could easily have been a double CD to really cover everything that the Suns do in depth. Anyway, Heart Of The Suns is a beautiful set of songs and certainly makes a fine introduction to the band, and I hope it makes people go and explore their music further. Here’s to another forty years.

-Gary Parsons-