Spawned from the vernal heat of the Florida swamps amidst swirling
patterns of pine orchards and pre-Columbian artifacts, Prince Rama was
whispered into the ears of Taraka Larson, Nimai Larson,
and Michael Collins in the summer of 2007 by the clanging of prayer
bells and goat-skin drums. They left the Hare Krishna farm where they
were staying to go to art school and form a creative nucleus in
Boston. There, their engaging and often unpredictable ritualistic live
shows attracted a rapid cult following, replete with collective
chants, werewolf summonings, Sanskrit invocations, and the
distribution of various handmade percussion to members of the
audience.

In a short time, the trio was picked up by British-based label, Cosmos
Recordings who released their first collection of lo-fi bedroom
recordings as Threshold Dances and flew them out to the UK to tour and
record the cinematically orchestrated Zetland. At this time, Taraka
also began working for the controversial visionary artist Paul
Laffoley and began composing Architecture of Utopia inspired by his
paintings, an album that explores mapping utopic space via the
mandalic architecture of the vinyl record. In spring 2009 the group
departed from Boston and went on a series of extensive tours across
the US and Europe, culminating in a tragic car robbery in which all
their equipment got stolen. Thanks to an overwhelming outpouring from
friends, family, and fans, the group was catapulted to rebuild and
reinvent themselves from the ground up to make a unique new sound
surcharged with a renewed sense of awe, gratitude, and urgency. The
trio moved to Brooklyn, and with their new instruments wrote and
recorded Shadow Temple, produced with the help of Dave (Avey Tare) and
Josh (Deakin) of Animal Collective for release on Paw Tracks in August
2010.