On Viva Galaxia, Christian “Surya Kris” Peters steps fully into his cosmic explorer persona, charting a voyage that stretches from the forests of Germany to the temples of India, Anatolian psych, and beyond. Written, recorded, and produced entirely by Peters in Brazil, the album is a great collection of tracks stitched together from decades of psychedelic experimentation.
With fourteen instrumental pieces, Viva Galaxia offers plenty to take in, but it never feels bloated. Instead of filler, each track contributes to a carefully crafted journey. Mystical, meditative passages weave seamlessly between soaring guitar showcases, creating a dynamic sense of balance.
“Inshallah” emerges as the spiritual centerpiece, its title and atmosphere shaped by Peters’ chance encounter with a Syrian traveler on a German train in 2017. In contrast, “Forever Immaculate” carries a more intimate resonance, dedicated to the memory of Peters’ late “mama dois,” Imaculada Silva Castro, and imbued with quiet tenderness.
Viva Galaxia is also a richly layered homage to the musical pioneers who came before. You can hear the echoes of 1970s German Krautrock threaded through with the English prog of Mike Oldfield and Pink Floyd.
But Peters doesn’t stop at Europe. India’s Ananda Shankar, Japan’s Osamu Kitajima and Isao Tomita, and Turkey’s Erkin Koray are all in the constellation. There are modern influences, too, with hints of My Sleeping Karma’s grooves, Ozric Tentacles’ space-jams, and God Is An Astronaut. Even synthwave and trance make brief appearances, showing Peters’ refusal to keep the trip anchored to one style.
One of the most striking elements of Viva Galaxia is just how clean and powerful it sounds, especially considering it’s a DIY effort, recorded, mixed, and mastered solely by Peters. The guitar tone in particular is huge, with Peters showing off serious chops.
He’s not exactly positioning himself as a shred-god in the Yngwie Malmsteen or Steve Vai mold, but some of the more guitar-driven cuts carry that same sense of technical bravado.
The difference is that Peters avoids the trap of empty virtuosity. His playing serves the songs, keeping things engaging rather than indulgent.
Like his past work with Samsara Blues Experiment, the record is steeped in soaring guitar solos and sprawling instrumentals. Yet the use of Indian instrumentation and motifs gives Viva Galaxia a sense of cyclical rebirth and mystery, an artist finding new galaxies in familiar skies.
Released August 15th, Viva Galaxia is joyfully expansive. It’s a love letter to global psychedelia, memory, and the connective tissue of sound.
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