Sundara Karma were an English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band formed in 2011 in

Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, England, and the county town of Berkshire. It is the United Kingdom's largest town, with a combined population of 355,596. Most of Reading built-up area, its built-up area lies within the Borough ...

. The band consisted of lead vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Oscar Pollock, lead

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

Ally Baty,

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...

Dom Cordell and

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

Haydn Evans. The band's name is derived from

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

words, meaning ''"Beautiful Karma"''.

History

2011–2016: Formation and early years

Sundara Karma was formed in 2011 when its members were teenagers attending

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

. In 2013, after uploading an early demo to

SoundCloud SoundCloud is a German audio streaming service owned and operated by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG. The service enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is ...

, the band was offered the opportunity to be the opening support act for several prominent artists. Over the next three years, the band embarked on extensive tours across the United Kingdom and Europe, while also releasing music that would later be included on their debut album, '' Youth Is Only Ever Fun in Retrospect''.

2017–2018: ''Youth is Only Ever Fun In Retrospect''

In January 2017, Sundara Karma released their debut album titled '' Youth Is Only Ever Fun in Retrospect'' via

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

and Chess Club. It peaked at number 24 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

and received ''Silver Certification'' from

British Phonographic Industry BPI (British Recorded Music Industry) Limited, trading as British Phonographic Industry (BPI), is the British recorded music industry's trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards; is home to the Mercury Prize; co-owns the Official Charts C ...

. 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.

2019–2020: ''Ulfilas' Alphabet'' and ''Kill Me''

On 1 March 2019, Sundara Karma released their second

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

, ''

Ulfilas' Alphabet ''Ulfilas' Alphabet'' is the second studio album by English band Sundara Karma. It was released on 1 March 2019 under RCA Records. Stylistically, the album has been described as a dramatic departure from their previous album, ''Youth Is Only Ev ...

'', under

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

. ''Ulfilas' Alphabet'' was produced by

Stuart Price Stuart David Price (born 9 September 1977) is an English electronic musician, DJ, songwriter, and record producer. His acts include his own band Zoot Woman (with Adam Blake (musician), Adam Blake and Johnny Blake (musician), Johnny Blake), L ...

and

Alex Robertshaw Everything Everything are an English art rock band from Manchester that formed in late 2007. Noted for their eclectic sound and complex, avant-garde-inspired lyrics, the band has released seven albums to date ''Man Alive (Everything Everything ...

. The album peaked at number 28 on the

. ''Ulfilas' Alphabet'' received positive reviews from ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'', '' Dork'' , '' DIY'' and others. In May 2020, the band shared three singles titled "Today, Tomorrow, Yesterday", "Invade Safe Space" and "Vision Sick" via

. These were unreleased songs from the recording of their 2019 album ''Ulfilas’ Alphabet''. On 1 October 2020, Sundara Karma released their single "Kill Me" via Chess Club Records. On 24 October 2020, they released their EP "Kill Me" consisting of 5 songs, including the song of the same name released at the start of the month.

2021–2024: ''Oblivion!'', ''Better Luck Next Time'', and disbandment

On 17 September 2021, nearly a year after their fourth EP, the band premiered the single "Godsend". In February 2022, it was followed by the release of the title track off their fifth EP, ''

Oblivion! ''Oblivion!'' is the fifth extended play by British indie rock band Sundara Karma. The EP was released on 1 April 2022 through Chess Club Records. It is the band's second EP that was produced by Clarence Clarity, after the first being their 20 ...

''. The EP was released on 1 April 2022. On 27 October 2023, the band released '' Better Luck Next Time'', the group's first studio album in over four years. The album has been described as a "departure of sound compared to the electro-pop elements" present on ''Oblivion''. The album received positive reviews from '' DIY'' and '' Dork''. ''Better Luck Next Time'' peaked at number 13 on the

, making it the band's first top 20 album in the UK. On 23 September 2024, the band announced that they would "step away from making music as Sundara Karma", and the following day announced Live for the Last Time, a series of four farewell concerts. The band split following their final concert on 8 December 2024 at

O2 Forum Kentish Town The O Forum Kentish Town is a concert venue in Kentish Town, London, England, owned by Live Nation Entertainment and originally built in 1934. History The venue was built in 1934 and was originally used as an art deco cinema. After the cinem ...

Members

*Oscar Pollock – vocals, rhythm and acoustic guitar, piano, keyboard, synthesizer (2011–2024) *Dom Cordell – bass, backing vocals (2011–2024) *Ally Baty – guitar, keyboard, synthesizers, backing vocals (2011–2024) *Haydn Evans – drums (2011–2024)

Discography

Studio albums

EPs

Singles

References

{{Authority control English musical quartets English rock music groups English indie rock groups Musical groups established in 2011 Musical groups disestablished in 2024 Musical groups from Reading, Berkshire RCA Records artists 2011 establishments in England 2024 disestablishments in England Alternative rock groups from Berkshire