The Rishis duo of Ranjan Avasthi and Sofie Lute hail from Athens/Atlanta, and Tacoma. Their new album is August Moon, out on April 20th via Cloud Recordings. Though the duo has been together for nearly a decade, August Moon is their long-awaited debut.
The rishis are also the newest band to proudly bear the Elephant 6 logo, with many active members of the E6 collective rotating through the band’s roster. Musically speaking, August Moon is an album of gentle, lush, psychedelic songs with a hint of hazy, folk-rock. It isn’t hard to imagine the rishis wandering around the subcontinent playing their songs with their friends, and everyone having a grand old time high on some lovely tea. But August Moon is also an album of collaboration, as their pals also helped out with painting this sound collage. E6 alumni friends helping in it’s creation include Scott Spillane (Neutral Milk Hotel), John Kiran Fernades (Olivia Tremor Control), Andrew Rieger (Elf Power), James Huggins III (Of Montreal), Andy Gonzalez (Marshmallow Coast), Peter Alvanos (Sunshine Fix and also Elf Power), Lucy Calhoun (Black Swan Network), Todd Kelly (Phosphorescent and also Great Lakes), Wild Rumpus founder Timi Conley, and co-producer Chris Byron.

What They Says: “Just Between You and Me sings the anthem of disaffected youth waking up to find all the foretold opportunities of previous generations are no longer possible due to poor planning and carelessness by ones who came before.“

“Oh So Young is about our school holidays when we would count how long we had for summer break. It tells of watching barrier islands, from high above in aeroplanes, as the islands unfurled into the sea like huge green tongues from some mighty dragon. It also speaks of love that transcends time and space into the very essence of the soul.“

Their Mixtape: “When on tour with the Rishis and watching the landscapes unfold out the window we love to play mix tapes.
One of the playlists we have, tap back into our roots from Athens, GA.“

Elf Power – Clean Clothes

The Rishis drummer, Peter Alvanos, does double duty as the drummer for ELF POWER. This Athens mainstay of the Elephant 6 collective released a new record this year titled Artificial Countrysides. It’s an LP of exciting songs with Andrew’s descriptive lyrics and the pop proclivities the songs bring about. We like to put on the whole record and our favorite song on the record is Clean Clothes (which we too, want while on tour).

Gebrils – Are You Underwater

Are you underwater is one of our favorite GERBILS tunes. Scott Spillane sings with such urgency and the fuzzy drones takes us to an underwater world of flugelhorn submarines and mellophone motorboats. And the record cover art is a beautiful painting by the talented local artist Beth Sale.

The Olivia Tremor Control – Suite One: Memories of Jacqueline 1906 / The Giant Day / Outer Themes / Green Typewriters (Peel Session)

While Sofie Lute was working at the Lazio Wave festival and living in Italy for a couple of years, I was living in London from 2003-2005 and we both used to listen to the music curator John Peel & his music show. I was thrilled to discover that John Fernandes and his band mates in the OLIVIA TREMOR CONTROL recorded a 3 song EP especially for the John Peel sessions. John Peel was a champion of underground music and getting the word out on new bands, and he would bring these bands to England to record with him. We felt this was such a great recording of the Olivias and our favorite song is Memories of Jaqueline 1906 showcasing gorgeous harmonies and fuzzy guitars and John Kiran Fernandes bass cutting through it all like a hot knife through ghee….

Dream Boat – Never Die

 DREAM BOAT Page Campbell and Dan Donahue Never Die with the soft intertwining vocals of Page and Dan, and Scott Spillane’s ghostly brass shimmering along the chorus. Both of the Dream Boat records are perfect for dates nights and is on constant rotation for pursuits of all things Tantra.

Phosphorescent – Little, Pt. 2

Todd Kelly, of The Rishis, played keys with PHOSPHORESCENT on their record 100 times or more and the song Little, Pt.2 is a sweet instrumental tune that drones away in the most pleasant way.

The High Water Marks – Proclaimers Of Things

The High Water Marks have a new record out, Proclaimer of Things, and the title track is filled with fast guitar driven pop delights making it clear Norway is one of the happiest societies on the blue marble. 

Obligatory Refractions – Stranger In My Heart

APPLES IN STEREO & E6 founder, Robert Schneider, has been playing with a cool side project named OBLIGATORY REFRACTIONS. They have a split single out with a lovely song aptly titled Stranger in My Head, it takes us on a trip with swirling organ and psychedelic guitars.

Jeremy Kiran Fernandes – Flutterby Butterfly

Along with playing in Immaterial Possession on Fire Records (a super fun band to see live with shadow puppets galore) Kiran Jeremy Fernandes also released a solo album, Inside the Harmonic Prism, which showcases Kiran’s infectious guitar work and also received contributions from Jeremy Barnes (Neutral Milk Hotel, Hawk and a Hacksaw, Heather Trost) to add some percussion and bass on the song Flutterby Butterfly.

The No Ones – 304 Molino Way

The NO ONES new record My Best Evil Friend have so many great songs it’s hard to choose just one as a favorite. Molina Way have some lovely strings that lilt in and out with fun imagery and dolphins squirting hear and there, and Frode Stromstad’s earnest vocals and with (REM) Peter Buck’s signature guitar sound, it’s such a great song.

The Ladybug Transistor – Oceans In The Hall

We were super excited to hear that LADY BUG TRANSISTOR from Merge Records have reformed to play some shows this summer! Their song Oceans in the hall is such a sweet baroque pop number with lovely horns and a lyricism that takes us back to earlier care free times.

August Moon is out tomorrow now on Cloud Recordings. Look HERE for more information on The Rishis.