Sundara Karma are an English indie pop/indie rock/art rock band from Reading, Berkshire, England. The band consists of singer/guitarist Oscar "Lulu" Pollock, lead guitarist Ally Baty, bassist Dom Cordell and drummer Haydn Evans. The Guardian has likened the band to the likes of Arcade Fire and U2.
History
Formation and early beginnings
Pollock and Evans had been friends since childhood and formed a few bands together before starting secondary school. However, nothing materialized as they moved to different schools. Pollock met Baty and Cordell at the Oratory School. The pair had been in bands together at their old school so the three decided to form a new band together. Evans rejoined the band on drums. The band's name is derived from Sanskrit words, meaning "Beautiful Karma". In July 2013, they released their debut single, "Freshbloom", via SoundCloud. In September 2013, along with Wolf Alice, they supported Swim Deep for their UK tour. They made their debut performance at Reading Festival in 2013.
2014–2015: ''EP I'' and ''EP II''
On 17 March 2014, they released their second single, "Cold Heaven", via Chess Club Records. In September 2014, their third single, Indigo Puff, was released in promotional CDr format, featuring b-side, "Hustle". The song "Indigo Puff" was used in Mercedes-Benz Australia's 2015 TV ad. On 23 February 2015, they released debut EP, EP I. The band signed to Chess Club Records in June 2015. The follow-up EP, EP II, was released in November 2015. It featured English singer-songwriter, Marika Hackman, in the song "Prisons to Purify". NME said that both EPs have "likened to Arcade Fire, Foals and The Maccabees". Throughout the year, the band have toured with Circa Waves and the Wombats.
2016–2017: ''Loveblood EP'' and ''Youth Is Only Ever Fun in Retrospect''
In August 2016, the band announced their debut album titled Youth Is Only Ever Fun in Retrospect to release in early 2017 via Twitter and their Facebook page. As their promotion for the upcoming album, they released third EP, Loveblood, on 4 November 2016. The album was then released on 6 January 2017, including the five tracks from the Loveblood EP. It peaked at number 24 on the UK Albums Chart. The band have performed as the support act for Two Door Cinema Club and Bastille. In March 2017, they performed at SXSW 2017. In May 2017, they announced an upgrade to their debut album via social media, adding the tracks "Explore", "Lakhey", and "Another Word For Beautiful" to the original track listing. "Explore" was released as a single on 12 May 2017 after premiering on BBC Radio 1 as Hottest Record. "Lakhey" was premiered on NME on 6 July 2017. The upgraded album was later released on 7 July 2017. From September to October 2017, they did their first UK headline tour, supported by The Magic Gang, including a show at London's Brixton Academy. In October 2017, the band were announced as the support act for the band Everything Everything for their Alexandra Palace show on 10 March 2018 exclusively on the band's UK tour. They opened the set with a unreleased song then titled simply "Eternity", which features on their second album under the title of "Symbols of Joy and Eternity". On 9 May 2018, the band announced they had almost finished new music via their official Twitter. Following this, on 29 May 2018, they announced on their official Instagram page that they were soon to start recording their second album. They later announced on 30 July 2018 that they had finished recording the album. In September 2018, they performed their upcoming new song titled "One Last Night on This Earth" for the first time in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Members
Oscar "Lulu" Pollock – vocals, guitar, keyboard, synthesizer, piano
