When reviewing new music from Ajay Saggar, it has become obligatory to remark upon the impossibility of guessing what he will do next. Since last he featured on this website, he has released ‘Summer In St Mary’s’ under the guise of Bhajan Bhoy, a double album of organ music recorded in a 15th Century church. Now he is unveiling ‘Meditations’, a title which hints at what to expect. It is clearly not going to be a collection of thrash metal or high-energy dance music. In fact, what it shares with its predecessor is an unhurried approach to sound scaping, all four of its tracks unfurl over the course of periods in excess of ten minutes. Whereas ‘Summer In St Mary’s’ was an exploration of one instrument, this time Saggar allows himself a wider palette, blending together accordion, banjo, harp, synthesiser, piano, guitar, bass and yangqin (a Chinese hammered dulcimer played with bamboo beaters.) It is a layered sound in which, occasionally, an individual instrument becomes the focus. What emerges is a deeply immersive and revelatory listening experience.
The sound of waves heralds ‘Yangqin Beach’, the rhythm approximates to bobbing up and down in the sea while the instrumentation (primarily banjo and, presumably, yangqin) suggest rippling water. Synths initiate a deeper and more threatening atmosphere. As changes and developments in the sound occur slowly, it benefits, as is true for meditation itself, from the listener emptying their mind of any other thoughts (impossible for a reviewer, sadly, whose head is sure to be abuzz with descriptive words) and burying themself inside the music as the track, and then the album, progresses.
When watching the videos for this album on YouTube, it is noticeable that its alternative viewing suggestions are for “Deep Focus Music for Studying” and “Relaxing and Meditative Video Art’ which is the algorithm’s simplified interpretation of what is on offer. ‘Oh To Sleep Too’ comes closest to matching that criteria. It starts with some found sound, a croaking that is not far from a snore, ringing noises act as an alarm. Guitar and pedals get more of a workout, albeit creating a gentle wash. In the most positive way, it induces a slowing down, as if Saggar is saying via his instruments, “you are starting to feel very tired” and an alternative career in hypnotism is awaiting him.
‘Vermona’s Piano’ is more disturbing, a throbbing deep bass crackle and searing then whirring noises with isolated piano notes joining the fray. What could be news footage is added but so far down within the mix that words cannot be deciphered. It is a further example of how small developments and variations on a theme create a trance-like effect.
‘Meditations’ ends with its finest 12-minutes, the kosmische, synth-led ‘Stargazing’, a piece that conjures with the majesty of the solar system, its clangs, guitar pedal overload and synth noises that could be aliens having a detailed conversation produce an increasingly mesmeric symphony for space cadets. It is like a series of firework explosions in the head.
Emerging from listening to ‘Meditations’ is akin to leaving the cinema in daytime, stumbling back into the conventional world having been buried in an alternate universe. Dazed, dazzled and marvelling, it is a journey to be relished.
Bhajan Bhoy: Meditations – Out 17 April 2026 (Cardinal Fuzz / Feeding Tube)
Bhajan Bhoy will be touring Britain in the second half of April including a show at Manchester’s The Peer Hat on 20 April. See how he creates his soundworld there.
I was editor of the long-running fanzine, Plane Truth, and have subsequently written for a number of publications. While the zine was known for championing the most angular independent sounds, performing in recent years with a community samba percussion band helped to broaden my tastes so that in 2021 I am far more likely to be celebrating an eclectic mix of sounds and enthusing about Made Kuti, Anthony Joseph, Little Simz and the Soul Jazz Cuban compilations as well as Pom Poko and Richard Dawson.
