Composer and guitarist Rafiq Bhatia has shared “Clearing, Crickets,” a four-minute sonic meditation that serves as a cornerstone of his new album ‘Environments’. The track immerses listeners in the thick humidity of an August night, utilizing chirps, skitters, and languid horns to create a texture that feels more like the Earth left to its own devices than a traditional composition. Drawing inspiration from the monolithic sculptures of Richard Serra and the dreamlike cinema of Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Bhatia meticulously builds a world where acoustic instruments mimic studio-engineered soundscapes. The single follows his recent work on the ‘Each Dream, a Melting Door’ collaborative EP, further pushing the boundaries of what modern ambient jazz can encompass.
Out now via ANTI- Records, ‘Environments’ features a trio of close collaborators, including Son Lux bandmate Ian Chang on percussion and trumpeter Riley Mulherkar. The album marks a significant evolution from the “science fiction” scale of his 2018 record ‘Breaking English’, leaning into a breath-driven, intentional approach to sound-shaping. A member of the Oscar-nominated trio Son Lux, Bhatia’s recent schedule has been prolific, from scoring Marvel Studios’ ‘Thunderbolts*’ to debuting site-specific arrangements at the Aspen Art Museum. By focusing on expressive gestures and “world-building” through sound, ‘Environments’ offers a deeply focused listening experience that captures the complexities of the natural world through a high-fidelity lens.
