In 1996 a dying hard-drive stopped Glow from properly finishing our first album. When we put out what should have been our second, Almost Forgetting to Breathe, we started selling cassettes of the unfinished first at gigs, as ‘Unavailable at all Good Record Shops’, and even put a mastered version out on CDR when we released our third, Enfeitiçada – both of which were very dubious decisions considering just how bad some of the mixes were.
The album has now been reconstructed using the original 8-track recordings, live backing tracks, tiny portions of the original mixes and a small amount of programming to replace missing parts.

Glow & The Dept. Of Luminosity - 7. Nearly Home

Glow & The Dept. Of Luminosity - 4. Alien Dream

Glow & The Dept. Of Luminosity - 1. Ela É Mar

Butterfly Tree, my first solo album since Unexpected Pleasures in 2016, will be released by Ensancha El Alma Records on Aug 5th 2022

11 Requiem For A Buddleia (part 3)

10 Requiem For A Buddleia (part 2)

09 Requiem For A Buddleia (part 1)

08 Imba

07 Long - Tailed Tits And Tiger Moths

06 Red Fuschia Interlude

from Elemental Temple - Part One

Earth
 
The element  of creation, fertility, sustenance, stability and abundance. 
Its energy is that of growth, manifestation, preservation and conservation.
It is associated with nourishment, security, sensuality, health, strength, 
connection and dependability. 
It symbolises evolution and the cycle of life, death and rebirth. 
Its elementals beings are Elves.
 
Wakan Tanka - Great Spirit          
Pachamama - Mother Earth         
Ayahuasca - Vine of the Soul

According to ancient yogic science specific lengths of meditation have unique effects on the psyche and anatomy. It is said that thirty-one minutes balances all the layers of the mind’s projection

Released by Ensancha El Alma Records 2022

Kwali Kumara & Pete Ardron - Earth

from Elemental Temple - Part One

Water  
The element of healing, emotion, purification, diversity and regeneration.
It has the ability to transmute and change form.
It is  associated with dreaming, transition, devotion, fluidity and compassion.
It invokes gratitude and happiness whilst being innovative and expressive.
Its elemental beings are Sprites. 

According to ancient yogic science specific lengths of meditation have unique effects on the psyche and anatomy. It is said that thirty-one minutes balances all the layers of the mind’s projection

Released by Ensancha El Alma Records 2022

Kwali Kumara & Pete Ardron - Water

from Elemental Temple - Part One

Fire
The element of alchemy, passion, power, dynamic energy and transformation. 
It sustains by giving warmth, courage, comfort  and protection. 
It purifies with annihilation and destruction.
It symbolises freedom, will power, the light of truth, creativity, life-force, love, divine inspiration and spiritual enlightenment.
Its elemental beings are Salamanders. 

According to ancient yogic science specific lengths of meditation have unique effects on the psyche and anatomy. It is said that thirty-one minutes balances all the layers of the mind’s projection

Released by Ensancha El Alma Records 2022

Kwali Kumara & Pete Ardron - Fire

from Elemental Temple - Part One

Air
The element of wisdom, intuition, intelligence, communication and higher power. 
It is associated with the breath of life, perception, knowledge, philosophy, renewal and change. 
It enhances the imagination, offers insights and inspires creative thinking. 
It encourages movement, new beginnings, harmony and balance. 
Its elemental beings are Fairies. 

According to ancient yogic science specific lengths of meditation have unique effects on the psyche and anatomy. It is said that thirty-one minutes balances all the layers of the mind’s projection

Released by Ensancha El Alma Records 2022

Kwali Kumara & Pete Ardron - Air

This is a taster mix of short edits of each track on my new album with Kwali Kumara, Each track is based around an 11 min mantra used in Kundalini Yoga practices

Kwali Kumara & Pete Ardron - Exalted - album taster mix

Afro Celt Sound System - Hypnotica [Pete Ardron Remix]

TerraNine - Whisper (Pete Ardron Remix)

Pete Ardron is the driving force behind Orchid-Star and before that world-fusion band Glow. He has worked with Afro Celt Sound System, Afro Celt’s N’Faly Kouyaté and Nathassia, as co-writer and producer, and has remixed for Afro Celt, Nathassia, Terra Nine, Trancient Dreams, Squazoid, Dorothee Munyaneza and others. He has released collaborative albums with Samantha Ray and Kwali Kumara, has conducted at the Royal Albert Hall and received an Hon PhD for his first album from the UK School of Esoteric Crystal Sciences(!)

He releases his 10th solo album (with guests), Unexpected Pleasures, on Nov 4th 2016, on Pink Hampster.

Call it Psybient, Psychill, Psydub, Ethno-chill, World-fusion or whatever, this shows the usual signs of Pete’s main influences - psychedelic, classical, from the turn of the 20th century, and world music, with a strong Indian influence running through much of it. Musically it carries on very much where Orchid-Star’s Birth left off. Having been persuaded to take the band more uptempo for the 2nd album (Faster), Pete started this album at the same time, finally finishing it a decade later.

It is a chocolate box full of gorgeous and very different guest performances, from the epic Hindi/Urdu torch song Mera Dil (my heart) – almost 9 minutes of stunning, passionate wall–to-wall vocals from Psibindi to the entrancing, quirky, random incursions of deaf vocalist Helen Francis into the gentle, dubby title track, sharing the vocal credits with the beautiful morning song of a Scottish blackbird.
Orchid-Star vocalists Samantha Ray and Myo also feature along with 2 tracks from radiant Portuguese singer-songwriter Teresa Gabriel, flautist Harmony Yemanya, a bewitching, genre-blending collaboration with beatjazz wind-control virtuoso Onyx Ashanti (Soul II Soul/Basement Jaxx) who also appeared on Birth, and a cover (the first Pete has ever done) of Ami Tar Thikana Rakhini – a big Bengali hit for Manna Dey in the 1960s, with newcomer Sayak Mitra.

Some things people have said

"It's not often, that upon hearing a new album, you have that certain and immediate feeling that what you are listening to is already a classic, a game changer, a marker for others to follow… ...heavily influenced by the mysterious East and all that it holds, with beautiful indigenous orchestrations, drifting siren-esque vocals, infectious hooks, deep bass lines and swathes of teasing frequencies to lose yourself within. ...an album with so much depth, emotion and honesty. It's filled with tantalising nuances, delightful productions that will stand the test of time and above all it has heritage."
Ian Taylor (Liquid Lounge)

"Nothing Unexpected about the excellence to be had here. Unusual and highly recommended."
Martin Russell (Afro Celt Sound System)

"One word… Wooooaaah! ...The kind of Album that will stay in my iPod and my playlist for a very long time! … All Sounds have their right place and everything blends organically together to hypnotise you with delicious melodies, beautiful voices, groovy modern tribal patterns …." 
Jeremy Squazoid (Nutek Chill Records/One Chill Music)

"The whole album felt like sitting in your most comfortable chair with the sun streaming in and having the most gorgeous blissed out Sunday afternoon. Stunning production with immaculate vocals." 
Bruce Elliott-Smith (Grammy award winning writer)

Pete is currently rehearsing to take the album out live with Psibindi on vocals
The title track was released on the Diversity in the Isles Vol 1 compilation, March 2016

Pete Ardron - Mera Dil (feat. Psibindi)

Remixes of Orchid-Star's second album 'Faster', originally released in 2011
This was something of an accidental album which came together when we realized in August 2020 that we had somehow over the years accumulated remixes or alternative versions of 8 out of 10 tracks from the album, either finished or finishable, mostly from within the band, plus one from good friends Trancient Dreams, and suddenly an album was on! We invited two of our favourite outfits - Squazoid (who had previously remixed 'Wildflower') and Moai System to complete the collection.

Pete Ardron

Popular tracks