Niraj Chag is a name which has been in the Asian industry for quite a while, but not one many will know. This is a first solo album from Niraj, who has previously worked alongside Nitin Sawhney on Outcaste Records compilations, the Nasha collective for Eastern Drum & Breaks, and you will also know him from his work spearheading the Dum Dum Project.

A well rounded musician and producer, Niraj has previously demonstrated he can make a track to fit any project, so to see what he did with a solo album was always going to be interesting. Where would he take his influences from: the hip-hop of DDP? Nitin's slow, thoughtful solidly musical sound? Or the hectic drum 'n' bass of the Nasha crew? Let's take a look….

The title track opens up 'Along The Dusty Road' and is a nice piece of enchanting poetry set against an atmospheric chord sequence and a growing amount of percussion. When the desi vocalist enters the fray there is an extra dimension, but the spoken word is much more effective. The rhythms are good, well programmed, and the overall sound seems very realistic.

The next track is my favourite off the album. Swati Natekar drops a beautifully cute vocal over piano rolls and a nicely paced tabla to create 'Khwaab', and her effortlessly superb performance show this girl's got talent. This is the Hindi edition of the track, and the chorus is quite catchy and the adlibs are also bang on. This is more uptempo than the rest of the album and carries an awful lot of soul.

Track three is 'Sajana', where Niki Mukhi's guitar riff is the most taking part. Slow paced and emotional, this is a fitting display by Faheem Mazhar where he matches the slow nature of the lyrics and the track with a well delivered show. Niraj has pieced together the child choir well and the tender guitar sound remains throughout.

Mazhar remains on the vocals for the even sadder 'Tanahar Dil' which although musically well thought out, I found it a bit depressing.

We get a little more positive for 'Bangles', where the drum kit gets a little louder, and another wonderfully simple guitar is joined by enriching strings and flutes. A song which is very well recorded, despite the singing being recorded all as backing vocals to a creatively fine result, Niraj has done a top job on this.

'Kanya' is a Kathak inspired track with a dramatic feel which will take you from the start. It draws you in, hinting at certain places, and the timpani is a great instrument to use on these sorts of tracks. Individually, each rhythm or melody is very good, but when they are all looped there are times when you become a little bored, but Niraj does well to throw a new solo at you in between the breaks.

After the tribal 'Intermission', we are given 'Ghar'. Another dramatic guitar riff is joined by some synthesis and Farheem Mazhar's vocals in Panjabi. I think Niraj makes a hash of the flutes; they seem a bit all over the place and clash greatly with the synths.

There is a bigger display of technical skills on 'The Nomad', where the combination of Melissa Baten's 'aahs' and Faheem Mahzar's chatter make a really pleasant musical experience. The keys, kit and flutes work in tandem and this is a really well made track. The layering and boxing of certain sounds add to the intrigue and despite being over five minutes long, I don't want to skip this.

Melissa stays in behind the mic for 'An Offering', which is like a prayer in Bengali, with slight oriental influences. Musically, it never gets going and you won't get much out of it if you can't speak Bengali.

The final proper song is 'Allah Hoo' which is a very Pakistani induced track, but retains modern day elements, mainly through the nicely placed electronica. Faheem Mahzar whispers and tells the verses into you and they sound very nice, along with his adlibs, but the tribal nature of the chorus takes much away.

The outro is a bit fake as it's simply the intro and taal from the title track, for just less than a minute, before a Bengali version of 'Khwaab', which isn't as good - in my opinion - as the Hindi version. There are more syllables in the Hindi, and the chorus loses its catchiness although the verses sound better recorded in the Bengali. But I'd listen to it again because I love the music.


Niraj has put together a technically and musically well drawn CD, where you will feel very relaxed and deep in thought. There aren't many poor tracks, but having gone with the Nitin Sawhney 'I'm a top drawer musician and this is what I like' approach falters because of the lack of variety. This is a bit like Nitin's 'Human' album, with a heavy classical Indian influence, but this type of stuff needs a contemporary breath of fresh air which isn't evident here. It shows that the best tracks ('Khwaab', 'Kanya') are the highest paced tracks. It took Niraj three years to create this and I think that was his biggest enemy, because each track is well thought out, but as an album there is only one dimension. 'Along The Dusty Road' gets 7 out of 10 for being musical sound but it won't be everyone's cup of cha due to the lack of tempo throughout.