MICHELLE QURESHI, Zindagi

As in other many other genres, in the world of ambient/new age music, there seems to be an unwritten rule that artists should “pick a lane,” mastering one specific style or vibe as a composer/performer. Over the past 12-plus years, multi-instrumentalist Michelle Qureshi has gloriously defied these norms, charting high and earning nonstop accolades from all the influential publications and platforms (Zone Music Reporter, One World Music Radio, New Age Notes, Echoes Radio, etc.) because she dares to follow different muses with each compelling recording.

After three acclaimed albums (Guitar Sojourner, Sage, Within) focusing on the organic, lilting beauty of her trademark solo acoustic guitar, she returned to the immersive, spatial ambience energies of earlier works like Seventh Wave and Silver Chord for her January 2024 concept album A Day on Venus. The project was a showcase for her exploration of different dimensions of our neighbor planet via a journey filled with other dynamic instrumentation – including her ethereal flute playing.

Perfectly titled after a Persian word for “life,” Michelle’s latest epic collection Zindagi, while featuring a similar ambient flow and several tracks (including the dreamy, soul-soothing opener “Being Seen”) fusing soaring atmospheres and the intimacy of her guitar, isn’t a themed album in the way A Day on Venus was. Two later caressing pieces, “Like a Dream” and “Faith,” follow suit with the ambience/melodic guitar synergy, allowing Michelle to manifest the best of all her sonic worlds. 

The ever-exploring artist didn’t set out to make it different from any previous work, it just evolved that way. “I just follow what I hear and then translate to these various instruments,” she says. Its concept is more open-ended, an outpouring of the many shades of expressions life; via an artful mix of upbeat, playful tunes and more meditative pieces. I explored a lot more in the realm of synthesizers and electronic sounds on this album,” she says, ‘but it’s not exclusively driven by that. There are still elements of my acoustic and electric guitars. There are some of my sound healing instruments that I use in my sound immersions such as singing bowls and chimes and there are other instruments that are a first time for me to incorporate in my releases, such as harmonica and Moog Theremin.”

The veteran Reiki Master, practicing yogi and Shamanism and Active Dreaming student’s perfect for meditation gems include “Eternal Loveliness,” a seductive, sonically intricate and deeply immersive tune with quirky, live nature sounds; “Ley Lines,” which breezes along like a mysterious, slightly romantic, trancelike film score, with a few bars of gentle guitar and soaring atmospheres; and the spacey, soft to loud, dynamics filled “Rise.” “Of The Day” offers a clever mashup of the two vibes, starting with a mystical, aural massage ambience before Michelle introduces a seductive, exotic groove which evolves to include a funky electronic marching beat. Reflective of Michelle’s intuitive sense of innovation, this could be the world’s first ambient dance tune!

“There are also a couple of somewhat darker pieces,” Michelle adds, “and finally it closes with a pretty wholesome and adventurous track (“We Walked Until Dark”) which opens with a nod to my acoustic guitar pieces and then takes off from there!” This fascinating production includes the wafting, lonely sound of a harmonica, then a hypnotic swirl of hypnotic higher end synth sounds over a softly throbbing underlying groove. Then she gets even more creative with the trippy, soaring extended synth notes over a steady percussion groove. Another wildly transcendent deep dive, “Tin Shadows,” offers a majestic blend of synth wash and the mesmerizing ring of chimes, coupled with ethereal wafting female vocals, as if an angel is floating above and connecting to the pulsating earthbound magic below.

A project this creative demanded a suitable title, and Michelle enjoys sharing the origins of how this extraordinary nine tune collection became Zindagi. “It was a lot of fun because I shared the music with my husband and daughter and we brainstormed together on a title that felt right,” she says. “When my husband came up with the idea of naming it Zindagi, and after several tries at pronouncing it correctly, I looked at the music and saw how much it was vibrant and full of life! It felt like a perfect match. The next thing was to create the album cover, which was also fun, but it was a solo pursuit and I do have a very interesting video on my socials showing how I created it.”