The August 25 rollout of Tree of Tranquility marks a solid return for Éric Mouquet‘s Deep Forest project and santoor ace Rahul Sharma, their second team-up since Deep India dropped back in 2013. Mouquet, a key architect of the French Touch wave, built Deep Forest‘s rep on sampling distant vocal traditions into house-tinged electronica, culminating in that breakthrough 1996 Grammy win for Boheme—a feat that put French electronic on the map as the inaugural non-Anglo victor in world music.
The catalog racked up 10 million physical sales plus consistent 20 million digital spins yearly, underscoring Mouquet’s grip on the genre’s evolution via solo ventures like Deep Forest Live Machine. Sharma, carrying forward his father Pandit Shivkumar Sharma‘s legacy on the 100-string santoor, has flipped the folk staple into worldly experiments—think his runs with pianist Richard Clayderman or that prior Deep Forest splice, all while holding tight to Hindustani improv’s soul. This latest pairs the album with a packed 2025 tour slate, giving audiences a front-row shot at the blend.
Across its eight outings, Tree of Tranquility carves out quieter, more personal ground in electronica, zeroing in on nature’s quiet pulse. Sharma’s playing shines with refined touch—santoor notes blooming in varied, almost meditative loops—bolstered by Mouquet’s textural overlays that hum and swell like ambient fog.
Rooted in the Old French root of ‘tranquilite’ for straightforward calm and joy, the title’s tree imagery serves as a low-key call to shake off stress and lean into mental stillness. Tree of Tranquility delivers on that promise, serving up a listen that’s equal parts unwind and uplift—timeless yet fresh enough to loop on repeat. With the tour kicking off soon, Sharma and Mouquet are set to amplify this chemistry live, turning studio subtlety into shared-space energy that world music heads won’t want to miss.
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