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About the dusty road

Three years ago, Niraj started work on what he thought would be a pet project. Now completed, Along the Dusty Road is bigger than he ever imagined:

Thirteen tracks in six languages, backed by specially commissioned photography and videos, it’s his most personal work yet.

It would be easy, on first listen, to describe the theme of the album as ‘isolation’. Perhaps too easy. While the first single Bangles was inspired by his grandmother’s journey from East Africa to the UK, Road has grown to become a summary of Niraj’s own journey over the last few years.

What are the themes, then? Loss… separation… melancholy… you’ll hear them, but the overall effect is more uplifting. Experience of touring in Asia, long hot summers, encounters in London with colourful characters: they’re all key influences that burst through the music.

In the end, Road is just too difficult to define simply, or pin down to a scene. It has tracks which rely on complex classical ideas, while Niraj himself comes from a very different musical background: and just listen to An Offering where oriental sounds are layered on top of an Indian-influenced beat, more gut-feel alchemy than textbook chemistry.

To me, it’s the contradictions that make Road more wholesome, more authentic to real life than anything I’ve heard in a while.

So… it’s not simple. It’s a process, as much as an end result. It’s not about isolation (and it is). It’s a big world , in a small space. And it sounds damn good! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.”

Rish Coupland

The Stories behind the songs

Niraj’s notes on the album, track by track.

01 ALONG THE DUSTY ROAD An ambient cinematic vibe with Denyse Anyogu’s moving poetry. The only English words on the album.

02 KHWAAB (THE DREAM) A track I wrote with Melissa Baten at the start of the Dusty Road journey. There are 2 versions in Hindi and Bengali. This is a song about loss and isolation: “is my life a dream?” (Chorus lyrics)

03 SAJANA A desert song about separation with Sufi (Pakistani devotional music) and Rajasthani (north Indian) undertones.

04 TAHANA DIL A song about longing in a Ghazal style with French influenced pianos and backing vocals.

05 BANGLES A nostalgic song. The first track I completed for the Dusty Road album. For me this bittersweet song says something about ‘coming of age’.

06 KANYA A track about youth. Using classical Indian dance (Kathak) vocabulary – here recited by Gauri Tripathi. I had a lot of fun playing with Gaurijis vocals – things were chopped, edited and put through filters to get the intricate rhythmic (vocal) layers I wanted for this track.

08 GHAR A song about ‘Going Home’ in Panjabi. A breaks track in 3/4 timing. Organic steel string guitar meets the world of synthesis. I always envisage a turbaned sardarji trapped in outer space.

09 NOMAD A laid back sensual track dedicated to all the people who have had to make a sacrifice.

10 AN OFFERING A song about keeping faith. In Bengali with oriental inspirations. Reminds me of the Buddhist monks of Thailand who seek alms at the first light of dawn.

11 ALLAH HOO A track I wrote with the ineffable Faheem Mazhar. A modern day Sufi Qawali. With this track I wanted to experiment heavily with vocal layers and invoke a ‘Sufi-esque trance’ with the chorus

Road features six languages, some better known than others:

kathak bols – linked to the dance form kathak and described as ‘the syllables of the dance’, this is language that moves you (literally) . Has to be heard to be believed.

bengali – one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, spoken mainly in West Bengal and Bangladesh. A long association with literature and poetry.

panjabi – from the Panjab, the land of five rivers.

sargam – another musical language, the words are sung to a musical interval. Often used to maximum effect in qawali.

hindi – the national language of India, from the same root as many European languages, with Sanskrit words.

urdu – a language with Persian and Arabic influences; the national language of Pakistan