One of my most common rants about steampunk style involves long-winded kvetching about the forgotten Eastern influences on the genre. I'll spare you the snarky details, but it comes to this: I want to know why I practically never see steampunks tapping into the deliciously decadent culture of India. I want to know to where Captain Nemo disappeared. Considering the rule of the British Raj in India from 1858 to 1957, Victoria's title of "Empress of India", and the 200-year force in the country of the British East India Trading Company (who dealt in tea, silk, cotton, indigo, and opium as well as political oppression), I am rather surprised that very few steampunks reflect this in their garb and choice of music.

However, a band called Sunday Driver was brought to my attention¹ this week, and let me tell you--these folks are definitely doin' it right. Their music is a careful and delicate fusion of Indian chant and English folk, laden with formidable female vocals and subtly morbid and mad lyrics (their band name supposedly came from a gene commonly found in mice!). The sound is energetic, crisply recorded, and each song is entirely different, keeping Sunday Driver on rotation over my speakers all week.