Ajay Mathur is a true citizen in the world. Born in India, living in Switzerland and creating his own version of Americana with Led Zeppelin-esque guitars, exotic instruments, catchy songwriting and lyrics that speak to the heart.
His new album “9 to 3” is dreamy and reminds me of a careless road trip through the South with California being the final destination! The combination of instruments is often surprisingly unusual. “Oh Angel” for example connects east to west mixing guitar, classical harp and Indian star. The 15 songs on ‘9 to 3’ are humorous, political, romantic and sometimes even cynically narcissistic and all of them are inspired by Mathur’s life experience and topped off by real, no-nonsense vocals. ‘9 to 3′ is an eclectic mix ranging from driving Americana tunes like ‘Walking On The Water’ and ‘Sitting By Your Cradle’ to the heartfelt rock ballad ‘Tell Me Why Do I Still Love You’. The album takes a pleasant turn by including the jazz-swing-like melodies of ‘All Up To Vanity’ and ‘Latin Lover’. It doesn’t stop there, though, and moves on to the powerful rock anthems ‘View from the Top’, ‘Password Love’ and ‘Nothing Really Matters’. The only way to categorize Ajay’s twin-tunes ‘I Song’ and ‘I Mantra’ is something like ‘trancy Bollywood-grunge’.
Ajay has been around for a long time and his own life story is just as interesting as his music. During the 70s he started off performing at some of the hottest clubs in New Delhi and Mumbai. At the same time some of the biggest international musicians from the West, including Jimmy Page and Don Cherry, were touring the country in pursuit of spiritual enlightenment and they joined Ajay onstage for unforgettable jam sessions that lasted through the night. During the 80s and 90s already in Europe Ajay was jamming with his rock group ‘Mainstreet’.
Ajay Mathur’s music is mature, deep, interesting and diverse – highly recommended to any music lover looking for something different.
My personal favorite song? “Latin Lovers” with its careless jazzy vibe!
Listen to the whole album here:
More about Ajay you can find on his official website , as well as on Bandcamp, Facebook and Twitter.
