Chasing The Monsoon
Chasing The Monsoon is a MusicAL project conceived by Ian Jones of British progressive rock group Karnataka. The project came into being shortly after the dissolution of the original line-up of Karnataka in 2004, after Jones approached musician and producer Steve Evans (who had produced Karnataka's album Delicate Flame Of Desire in 2003) and guitarist Ian Simmons concerning a collaboration.
Jones had always been fascinated by India (Karnataka got its name from a district of India where Jones had spent some time) and had a keen interest in ecology and nature. The new project got its name from a book entitled Chasing The Monsoon: A Modern Pilgrimage Through India by writer Alexander Frater.
Initially conceived as Jones' primary musical project, circumstances changed when Jones resurrected Karnataka with a new line-up after being inspired by playing with keyboard player Gonzalo Carrera, music that was initially intended to be used for the Chasing The Monsoon project. Jones felt that the material he had worked on with Carrera was "distinctively Karnataka", and the band returned to ACTIVE duty. Jones has since been obliged to share his time fairly evenly between the two projects, resulting in lengthy delays in releasing new material under either project title. The Chasing The Monsoon album is very nearly complete, but has had to take the back seat recently whilst Jones - and vocalist Lisa Fury, who is also the lead vocalist in the new-look Karnataka - complete recording Karnataka's album The Gathering Light and tour in its support.
Karnataka actually played one of the Chasing The Monsoon songs when they toured in 2007. The song, which has a working title of Breathe Again was originally intended to be a Karnataka song, but after partially re-working it after the tour, Jones and Fury both felt that it was probably more suited to the Chasing The Monsoon project.
The album is currently anticipated to be released around summer 2010.
Discography
Studio Albums
- Chasing The Monsoon (2010)