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Surya Kris Peters, Holy Holy Holy: House of Worship

Posted in Reviews on January 5th, 2017 by JJ Koczan

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As was the case with Surya Kris Peters‘ first physically-pressed album, 2016’s The Hermit (review here), the key to Holy Holy Holy seems to lie in evocation. This solo-project from Christian Peters of Berlin heavy psych rockers Samsara Blues Experiment began with the 2015 digital outing Status Flux and subsequent Moonstruck, and working with his own Electric Magic Records imprint (distributed through World in Sound), Peters embraces a broad creative freedom across the included six songs, the last of which, “Modular Mono Logic,” consumes the whole of side B at a grand and exploratory 21 minutes of layered modular synth, Moog, guitar, keys, programming, and so on. I’m not sure I’d call the album as a whole more experimental than its predecessor, since if anything, Peters seems more assured of this creative process than he did last time — that is, he has a better sense of how to make this kind of kosmiche progadelia work — but it remains far, far out even in side A’s guitar-driven “Schorfheide Blues,” which is about as close as Holy Holy Holy comes to rock-based composition.

It could well be this openness and creative range that lets the title have such a strong presence in the listening experience of Holy Holy Holy, in that just as The Hermit seemed contemplative and insular, this new collection flows together more as a single, outward-looking statement of worship, but whatever the case, it remains very much a solo affair on Peters‘ part. He handles all instrumentation himself as well as the recording process — his adopted moniker for the project, Surya, being a reference to the Hindu sun deity, further underscoring the idea of worship — as he brings together the two sides, each drawn from a separately-issued 2016 digital EP, into an encompassing 42-minute long-player.

It’s not long into “Leise Versprechen” (“quietly promise”), which begins side A’s series of five tracks — two more were on the original Schorfheide Blues EP, presumably dropped from Holy Holy Holy for vinyl time constraints — before Peters has built up from a low rumble to a near-orchestral wash of synth. He establishes a simple keyboard line early, however, and holds to it throughout the opener’s five minutes, so that even as the song more completely comes to life, its swell of volume carries that intimacy forward. In some ways, that’s the story of the record itself, and of Peters‘ progression as a solo artist, but as “Tanz der Wasserläufer” (“dance of water runners”) beams itself in like some deep space transmission of modular bleeps and bloops — or maybe those are intended to be drops of water? or birds? — the krautrock vibe becomes all the more prevalent, as does the hypnotic intertwining of layers.

Accordingly, the clarion fuzz of “Schorfheide Blues” — which if I’m not mistaken (and I might be, as always) is Peters‘ first guitar-led solo track since Surya Kris Peters emerged from his previous project, Soulitude, which released a lone full-length, So Came Restless Night (review here), in 2013 — is somewhat jarring, but the song’s quick 4:20 run does much to ground Holy Holy Holy before moving into the plucked synth strings and Mellotron-style sounds of “Soirée à Lunéville” (switching from a German title to French), which revives the blend of background wash and a relatively simple forward line, this time with the already noted string sounds in the forward position, almost making it a shame Peters titled another song as a “Tanz.” “Soirée à Lunéville” is also brief.

At 2:29, it’s the shortest piece on the LP, but neither its standalone impression nor its function in serving as a bridge between “Soirée à Lunéville” and “Nachtschattenspleen” (“night shadows”) are to be understated, the side A finale seeming to be an extension of the evening hours the prior track put forth, but broader and more spacious, a low drone beneath reminding that indeed, we’re in the dark. The falling waters of “Tanz der Wasserläufer” seem to make a return as well, and they’re the last sounds to go before the first half of Holy Holy Holy ends and a platter flip brings “Modular Mono Logic,” which was recorded in Spring 2016 and originally presented in three movements on the summer-released EP of the same name: ‘Gong Zong,’ ‘Rumba Elektronika’ and ‘All-Ein-Sein.’ Where one might feed into the next exactly I won’t hazard to say, but there are distinct changes in feel as “Modular Mono Logic” moves from its opening low-end undulations toward the final spread of droning swirl that consumes it, ending on a long fade of residual noise.

On the original EP, it also came with another track — “Talk to the Devil to Find God” — but on its own as part of this LP, “Modular Mono Logic” still qualifies as Peters‘ most ambitious offering under the banner of Surya Kris Peters, and with all the nighttime contemplations, spiritual searching and aural experimentation, “offering” feels very much appropriate as a descriptor for what’s happening on Holy Holy Holy. Whether that’s true because of the title’s power of suggestion or something else ultimately doesn’t matter, since at very least it demonstrates a consciousness and a purpose behind Peters‘ work in this form. One can only hope that will continue to develop as it has thus far and that his penchant for finding quiet spaces within his own soundscapes remains as resonant as it is here.

Surya Kris Peters, “Modular Mono Logic”

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