Sons Of Zöku are a self-professed hybrid tribe of Portuguese-born Ricardo Da Silva and Ica Quintela, and Australian-born Jordan Buck, Oscar Ellery, Eddie Hannemann, and Hannah Yates. The band are known for their raw, world-influenced psychedelic sound, transcending the mainstream by blending elements of rock and folk with global music traditions, folding sitar and flute melodies into distinctive vocal hooks, rhythmic chanting, and upbeat, layered percussion. Selected as “Most Popular Experimental Artist” at the South Australian Music Awards for five years running, word spread of their live sonic offerings, leading to a spot performing at WOMADelaide 2023, and appearances at a slew of other festivals across Australia. I’m reliably informed their live shows are especially spell-binding, the ensemble experimentally blending any number of instruments across a psychedelic-rock canvas, showcasing a yin/yang of unexpected dynamic changes.
With their second studio album Endless now released, Sons Of Zoku push further on the boundaries of dynamics and repetition, drawing listeners deeper into their cohesive yet kaleidoscopic sound. The result is a modern, manifolded experience that teems with the energy of change. According to frontman Ricardo, “The recording process was very simple, consisted with all of us stepping into our headquarters and devoting our craft into creating a soundscape that best represented each track. Individually we all came in and recorded our own layers of colours until we felt the song has opened a door to somewhere we had never been before.”
The album opens with a slightly disconcerting tribal chant intro, that morphs gently into the beautifully languid single Moonlight. The band somehow effortlessly capture the essence of a star-laden night, a laid-back warm wash of flute and semi-acoustic melody that is quite hypnotic. The pace picks up halfway through with a more esoteric multi-layered percussive rhythm driving the track. Vocals aside, I’m suddenly struck by a vision of mid-period Man in their more expansive live performances. This sextet are anything but loose, mind, it’s a carefully blended mixture of (okay) slightly hippy-ish sound that works so well! I’ve seen someone else use the phrase “a hypnotic haze of colourful kaleidoscopic sounds” and its bang on.
Earth Chant is the latest single off the album, it’s an exquisitely captured production, no easy feat considering the sheer number of instruments and vocals involved – it could have been so muddy and mangled, but fear not the sound is beautifully crisp. A fascinating blend of tribal and desert-like ‘nomadic’ rhythms and percussions forms the bedrock to this little treat, complemented by choral harmonies and an insidious ear-worm of a guitar line. Like so many others, this tracks strongly reminds me of the Kimonos. From: https://www.velvetthunder.co.uk/sons-of-zoku-endless-copperfeast-records/
