Sandunes Releases Piano-Led 'Spiral' As Sanaya Ardeshir

Indian electronica frontrunner Sanaya Ardeshir steps outside her moniker Sandunes to release music under her real name and launch the label Karigar Records with the single 'Spiral'.

The erstwhile Mumbai and now LA-based producer-composer seems to switch style at first, moving from meticulously layered electronica productions to solo piano with all its intimate taps and clicks on the single, which also introduces her upcoming album 'Hand of Thought'. However, even the piano melodies repeat and overlap to let the resultant textures lead, like Sanaya's earlier work often did, and when the low notes of the string and woodwind orchestration hit, they arrive with the rumble akin to that of electronic bass tones, before synths themselves enter the picture.

However, it would be a disservice to measure 'Spiral' against electronica or club styles. The single's purpose is clearly different from serving a function, except to express an emotional narrative. It is an impulse that long-time listeners of Sanaya's work can detect creeping in as her downtempo-rooted work began to be more about moving the heart than the body. Over the years, it increasingly gravitated towards the songwriting of her vocal collaborators and then arrived close to the sonic space of 'Spiral' on tracks like 'Tsunami' from her last album 'The Ground Beneath Her Feet'.

Sanaya explains it specifically for 'Spiral' and the upcoming album: "The music and the essence of the record became clear to me as a way to connect to the women in my maternal blood-line - many of whom were piano players."

Listen to the single below and follow Sandunes for more information.

Image by Sumaiya Sayed