"The Lost Souls has a point to make: the role of the heart over the mind; the plight of the dispossessed in a world beset by religious and intellectual divisions. As the translation of A Thousand Books says, ''You study the words of a thousand books, but never did you study yourself" (BBC Music review)

In his own words Niraj describes how the emotional inspiration for The Lost Souls came from a pretty dark, uncertain place:

"The feeling behind the songs came from my own realisation that it is totally necessary to live in the moment. Politics, religion, science, none of these things provide certainty for me any more. I don't know whether that's a reflection of our own times or just a place I've reached philosophically - it's a bittersweet feeling."

From truth comes beauty. In turning to his music to provide answers, even if only temporary ones, to the big questions that affect all of us concerned about the world we live in today, Niraj has created that rare thing: art that turns loneliness into luminosity, that acknowledges the need for us to surrender to inevitable fate, but also celebrate it.

Is this album for you? If you're looking for experimentation, for melodies that scratch that itch you never knew you had, you'll find it here in the sweeping orchestral tones of Yaa Wafaa, the breathy, sensual twists of Trace, in the middle-eastern opera that is A Thousand Books. I suspect that for many more of you it's the pureness and richness of sound that will draw you to this album and provide the most reasons to play it again and again. With tracks like It's Life, Baavaria, Saawan, and with the final track Surrender there's a sweetness of sound that feels like being welcomed home after years spent abroad. To that extent the album picks up where Along the Dusty Road left off and those of you who loved that album will find this one just as soulful, just as uplifting and perhaps just a little bit older and wiser in tone.

I wish I could talk more about my personal highlights - Japjit Kaur's voice, the use of thumri, kavit and kathak, the production on my personal favourite track Mori Atariya and much more: but as I think Niraj would say, life's too short for just talk, talk talk. Especially when you could be listening instead!

Rishi (Buzz-erk Records)

You can download the press release for The Lost Souls here