Kargo - Into the Sun: A Journey to the Electric East (2018)

Mat McLean and James Diplock make up the group Kargo. Over the years, Mat has fallen deeply in love with the traditional sounds and instruments of countries like India and the Arab countries. This passion has included Mat learning traditional instruments like tabla and mrdanga drums as well as harmonium and sitar. Couple this love of eastern sounds with James' extraordinary talent for using technology and synthesizers, looping bars and phrases, and you have the unmistakable sound of Kargo!

Into The Sun has a broad geographical soundscape, taking inspiration from Northern India and the Arab countries and an influence of the musical scales and more exotic instruments. Now, this in itself is all very traditional, but when it gets the Kargo treatment, the whole sound is a blend of classical and modern music, with hypnotic modern pulses and subtle drum loops that make for perfect music for meditation and relaxation. The fact that this album is instrumental means that the mind can drift and wander through the soundscapes without distraction and take your soul with it on a transcendental 'Journey to the East'.