RAJ Turns To Jazz-House On New EP But It's Still Lo-Fi & Ambient Influences That Give It Interest

Delhi's Rajkanwar Sodhi aka Raj moves from his formative style of jazz-infused lo-fi hip-hop to turn dancier on the new EP 'Weather Changes Moods', released via German label 55 Music.

Like his earlier work, the 7-track release still serves as mood pieces, though now fitted for a dancefloor where the DJ and dancers are cruising over consistent energy rather than offering a dynamic change. Backed by piano harmonies, sometimes funk-based basslines and house's characteristic four-to-the-floor rhythms, Raj lays down his guitar lines and brass works from Mauricesax and Soul Food Horns.

Yet even the best pairing of drum arrangements and guitar/saxophone hooks on the EP would have kept things generic (as generic as the sung vocal samples used), were it not for the warm, fuzzy atmosphere created by the intimately placed grainy piano tinkling or ambience of found sounds that provide the subtle bed on 'Fallin' and 'Its Happening'. In line with some modern trends, think Fred Again, (though it's not a new trick by any means) of incorporating speech recordings from real life into the music to use it as a musical diary, voice recordings flesh out the ambiences even more – specially adding an element of fun on 'No More Waitin' and bookending the energetic performances on 'Do It Alone'.

Listen to 'Weather Changes Moods' below and follow Raj for more.