Sanaya Ardeshir has built a formidable reputation as electronic producer Sandunes. ‘Hand Of Thought’, her debut full-length under her own name, steps into entirely different territory, and it’s one of the most personally ambitious records you’ll hear this year.
Out now via Karigar Records, the album blends contemporary and electronic forms with cinematic and classical traditions, built around delicate piano motifs that unfurl into meditative spaces before giving way to ambient drift, experimental electronica, and post-classical expression. It was crafted across India, Germany, and the US, with contributions from acclaimed percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar and one of India’s leading saxophonists, Rhys Sebastian.
New single “Deccan Queen” arrives alongside a video, and its origins are deeply personal. The track takes its name from a daily Indian passenger train connecting Pune and Mumbai, 2 cities that run through Ardeshir’s family history across generations. Her great great grandmother was from Poona, her daughter raised a family in Bombay, and the line between those 2 cities became a thread connecting versions of home.
That sense of connection runs through the entire album. At its core, ‘Hand Of Thought’ is an exploration of matrilineality, tracing kinship through the female bloodline and examining how intuition, wisdom, and emotional inheritance pass across generations. Ardeshir draws directly on the experiences of Parsi women in her family, who grew up in mid-20th-century Bombay as part of a community of fewer than 100,000, descended from Persian refugees who migrated to the Indian subcontinent in the 7th century.
“This is the first time my work is drawing from the culture of my community and family in a very direct sense,” she explains. “In a way I’m using the piano as a lens to examine the specific experiences of the women in my family as Parsis living in Mumbai in a newly independent India.”
The album’s larger intention is equally clear. “Hand of Thought is my documentation of the threads that connect maternal lines, and how they intersect with the threads of the transgenerational currency that is music. It came from a need to revere and honour those inherited affinities passed down through blood and rebellion.”
Long celebrated as one of India’s leading electronic music artists by Resident Advisor, Ardeshir’s Sandunes work has drawn praise from Rolling Stone, The Guardian, The Quietus, and The Wire. She has performed at Lollapalooza, Roskilde, WOMAD, and Magnetic Fields, completed a Barbican commission for Warp Records and Boiler Room, and collaborated with 13-time Grammy-nominated Anoushka Shankar.
‘Hand Of Thought’ also marks the debut of Karigar Records, the label Ardeshir co-founded with Krishna Jhaveri. Named for the Hindi word for artisan, the label is built around craftsmanship, sonic exploration, and creating space for diverse voices. It’s a fitting home for a record this carefully made.
‘Hand Of Thought’ Tracklist:
Hand Of Thought
Between Dreams
Trains
Barefoot Steps
Deccan Queen
Spiral
Missing Links
Nora’s House