The Pink Elephants released their latest slice of psychedelic shoegaze with an occult themed album, Mothers of The Sun, released in September 2025. The music is spacious with droning atmospheric songs that feel meditative and ritualistic. This is a ‘mind-expanding’ album that is inspired by ancient myths, which is evidenced in song titles like ‘Thee Holy Message‘, ‘Sun Rah OM Inferno‘ and ‘Astronomie Haze‘.
Mothers Of The Sun is primarily instrumental with synth, drums, drum machines, bass and guitar from Isaiah Mitchell of Earthless whose contributions are impressive. Mothers Of The Sun is a journey through spiritual death and rebirth guided by psychedelic music that expands the mind beyond the density of matter.
‘Mother Sun Rises‘ is the new music video from the album. The song prominently features synth and Isaiah Mitchell on guitar. He is an extraordinary Californian guitarist who excels at lead guitar and pairs beautifully with the playing of the band leader Peter McNestry. The music video is filmed in a vintage style, completed with retro tinting and scenery. A woman in a cape, perhaps a priestess, is in front of the Sphinx casting spells and later carrying touches in a procession up ancient towers. When she reaches the summit a sequence of various religious icons fill the screen giving off a ‘Holy Mountain‘ Jodorowski vibe. The video is a good fit with the music and enhances the mystical themes and warm vintage music.
‘Mother Sun Rises‘ has two versions, one with and one without vocals; they have the same instrumentation and mix. The vocals from Cristin Heck are witchy business with toning, intense vocal vibrato adding a heady depth and mystery to the drones. The lyrical vocals fit the aesthetic of the music video with strong projected 70s style singing.
The guitar a has great tone with chiming highs, overdrive and echo that become layered, looped and soloed on creating an epic song. ‘Mother Sun Rises‘ is a journey and the guitar provides the psychedelic energy and narrative to the track. The instrumental version of the song shows off the guitar as the lead melody versus the version with vocals, which brings the vocals forward as the natural focus for the melody. Either way, the 70s psych art-house vibe of the song is very inspiring.
The Pink Elephants are the project of Peter McNestry, a Canadian recording artist residing in Ottawa, Ontario. His other projects include Blakkr Nio, Spectroscope, The Unquite Grave, and Gravity’s Rainbow. Peter McNestry is known for his dark droning style which exudes the spiritual occult which is exemplified in his project Blakkr Nio. Conversely, The Pink Elephants‘ guiding star for their sound is shoegaze rock music with darkwave psychedelic sounds and now, with the new album Mothers Of The Sun, psychedelic space rock.
The Pink Elephants have been a shoegaze band from the outset. The earliest release on their Bandcamp page is from 2016 titled, Liquid Illusions followed by Temples In The Sky (2017) and At The Gates Of Heaven in 2019. These were created with contributions from various musicians near and far, but all had a shoegaze darkwave sound with vocals. Mirrored Times (2019), God’s Children Breathe The Ether While Holding Up The Sky (2021) showed a shift in musical style, moving towards electronic synth sounds and atmosphere.
The latest album, Mothers Of The Sun, moves that sound in a new direction by focusing on the psychedelic rock guitar and occult / ancient mythological themes. This new album feels like the most polished of their catalog. There are several reasons for this perception.
The contributions from Isaiah Mitchell bring the music to another level. He is a professional guitarist and former member of The Black Crowes, where he played to large stadium crowds. His original and primary project is Earthless, who have released albums since 2005 and has toured globally. His guitar is played through high wattage amps, tape echo and a selection of drive tones that are both vintage and modern. Isaiah Mitchell is playing almost constantly throughout the majority of the album.
The most rocking song on this album shows off heavy riffs on guitar and my personal favorite is, ‘Sun Rah OM Inferno’. This song starts the album off with a bang. It opens with a distorted driven stoner riff and then the lead guitars get slathered into the mix. Heavy driving bass in the style of German heavy psychedelic space-rock playing over a beat machine. This style of bass always leads to psychedelic rock that is modern and heady. The guitars develop deep layers of echo that have the guitar playing over itself, building a dense structure which sounds like multiple guitars playing together. This makes a song that is trippy and cosmic. The three minute outro guitar solo grabs a Pink Floyd guitar tone and jams into the depths of space.
The album Mothers Of The Sun, tells a story that starts with a holy message summarized as follows in the introductory song:
“There is a specific clarity, a moment where it seems to freeze. Every possible particle is motion. Motion going up or down. Naked of mind on a path of lies, we enter the field…”
Following the message, we met the gods in ‘Sun Rah OM Inferno‘ then into a ‘Sarcophagus‘ and out to the ‘Celestial Towers In The Sea‘. From the inferno to death to the heavens. Then the ‘Mother Sun Rises’ bringing a new beginning or being reborn. The next song is ‘Astronomie Haze‘ and the journey ends with a darker song with driving distorted rhythms titled, ‘Heavy Is The Hammer‘. These final songs suggest a density of matter and a return to the suffering of form. The meaning of Mothers Of The Sun could be a journey from a creative event like the big bang, to cosmic death into the celestial heavens, only to be reborn and again fused into the heaviness of matter.
Mothers Of The Sun has 70s psychedelia, droning atmospheres, and ancient mystery themes. The music is meditative, instrumental and gives the impression that it would be quality listening during personal experiences of expanded consciousness. The layers of sound have nuance and depth, the album has soft sections which slowly ramp up to a driving energy. It is a complete album that provides a cohesive cover-to-cover listening experience. The guitar playing is wonderful and the atmosphere is deep. This is an album which can be listened to in contemplative moments or when you need a fix of brilliant 70s styled psychedelic acid rock.
