KSHMR announces debut album Mirage as TEJA in collaboration with Ampermut and Gobi Desert Collective
KSHMR has announced Mirage, his debut album under the alias TEJA, made in collaboration with Ampermut and Gobi Desert Collective and released via his label Dharma Worldwide.
TEJA is a new alias created to distinguish this body of work from KSHMR's main project. The name is taken from the middle name of his younger brother, Tej. Where KSHMR is associated with high-energy festival production, TEJA represents a more spacious and organic house direction - music built around instrumentation, groove and texture rather than peak-time impact.
The project grew from a chance connection. KSHMR featured an Ampermut and Gobi Desert Collective track on his Dharma Radio show, the artists made contact, and what followed was an extended creative exchange that eventually produced a full album neither party had set out to make.
The sound has precedents in KSHMR's catalogue - unreleased demos in a similar direction appeared in his Rickshaw DJ set filmed in Mumbai, and his debut album Harmonica Andromeda touched on it, particularly on Slow with Mahmut Orhan. Mirage is the first time the direction has been given its own dedicated project.
The eight-track album opens with Oasis and moves through the title track, Nigaaro and Rosh featuring Mir Iqbal, the six-and-a-half minute centrepiece Aquarius and closing track Sundial.
