Brooklyn-based "now age" group
Prince Rama (formerly known as Prince Rama of Ayodhya) formed in 2007 around the talents of Michael Collins and sisters
Taraka and
Nimai Larson. The trio members, who were raised in a Hare Krishna-centric Florida community, met in high school and began their musical journey as a straight-up punk-pop outfit, but a year in a Boston art school, as well as a steady diet of
Amon Düül,
Animal Collective, and
Gang Gang Dance records, helped them make the transition from wannabe skatepunks to cosmic purveyors of tribal, mantra-heavy, lo-fi psychedelic pop. The group's debut collection,
Threshold Dances, appeared in 2008 on the British-based Cosmos label.
Zetland arrived in 2009, followed in 2010 by the limited vinyl EP Architecture of Utopia (Animal Image Search) and
Shadow Temple, which was co-produced by
Animal Collective's
Deakin and
Avey Tare and released on their Paw Tracks imprint. The
Larson sisters,
Taraka and
Nimai, pared
Prince Rama down to a duo for the group's fifth album, 2011's Trust Now. It was recorded in a church with producer
Scott Colburn. The building provided the perfect environment for their new hybrid of pagan and new age sounds, witchy textures, and ambient spaces. In February of 2012, Not Not Fun issued the group's single "Utopia = No Person" b/w "Exorcise [Chopped N Skrewed R.E.M.I.X.]," followed in November by the full-length
Top Ten Hits of the World, again on Paw Tracks. The extreme sports-inspired
Xtreme Now, released by
Carpark, followed in 2016. ~ James Christopher Monger