The Golden Dawn Arkestra describe themselves as a Psychedelic Texas Cult, A Cabal of Secret Chiefs & Ancestors of the Great Nomads of the Global Dawn. I call bullshit on this hyperbole! Thankfully the quality of their music is excellent.
Children of the Sun is their third album, build upon their eponymous opus from 2014 and Stargazer from 2016. With 15+ band members there’s, understandably, a big sound, incorporating a wide variety of musical styles, with a focus on a funky beat. This album was produced by Erik Wofford, who has produced The Black Angels in the past, so it’s drenched in reverb, which definitely enhances the sound.
Even listening to the album without seeing the band you can tell there’s one hell of a performance going on. This is a band you want to see live. I recommend you look them up on YouTube, where I’m sure you will smile and be entertained.
The album opens with The Wolf, which is a progressive psychedelic anthem and a real feel-good opener.
‘Come and Look to the East Now
As the Moonlight is Shining
We will stand tall together
That’s right, It’s all right’
Wings of Ra is a wall of sound even more soaked in reverb, and a classic “Ooh Ooh” earworm (if you ever find yourself Ooh-ing to tracks when in the supermarket).
As soon as the first single Lovely Day kicks in, then the album takes a turn with a Brazilian beat, which should be a good club floor filler. If you’ve already made a fool of yourself singing to Wings of Ra then you may as well have a dance to this one.
The title track Children of the Sun, is, in my view, the best track on the album and has a strong Zappa-esque feel. There’s great joy in this music. It’s festival time.
‘We are the Children
The Chosen Ones
We are the Children
Children of the Sun’
Cosmic Dancer is an equally up-beat track with a lovely funky beat, but then the album changes again with a chanson-esque track No One Like You. Perhaps, with 15+ members, there are bands-within bands and these tracks reflect who was present at each recording? Perhaps the hyperbole is significant in the formation of the music? Either way, it really does feel like the great Frank Zappa has come back (perhaps in Holographic form) to bless this music.
‘Come and Join Us
The time is now
We bring you sunshine
Happiness and Joy’
I couldn’t agree more.
