Rafiq Bhatia Evokes An Ephemeral Summer Night On “Clearing, Crickets”
“I wanted the music to feel more like the Earth does when left to its own devices,” Rafiq Bhatia recently explained in a recent video interview about his new album ‘Environments’, citing sculpture artist Richard Serra and Thai filmmaker Apitchatpong Weerasethankul as influences on this expressive ambient jazz.
Today he is sharing the track “Clearing, Crickets”, a four-minute meditation filled with chirps, skitters, swishes and languid horns where you can almost feel the thick humidity of an August summer night. Check out the song below.
Listen to “Clearing, Crickets”: https://youtu.be/jjgwJYW8MDE?si=pEfmQ_exvAV1npdR
For ‘Environments’ Bhatia assembled a trio of kindred spirits and close collaborators. His Son Lux bandmate Ian Chang, contributor of acoustic and electronic percussion, was an obvious choice – over a decade, the friends have explored defying the expectations of their instruments together, and Chang’s signature off-kilter swagger of drumming is as comfortable in producing hush or roar. Trumpeter Riley Mulherkar, whose acclaimed debut album Bhatia co-produced, brings a breath-driven approach to slowly developing sounds and avian flourishes that are naturally at home on this uncharted voyage.
“I think we’re all looking for expressive gestures on our instruments that evoke these things heard in more studio-type constructions,” Bhatia says. “I’ve been after this sort of world-building with sound but being able to control and shape it very intentionally and with great care.”
Bhatia’s 2018 album ‘Breaking English’ found a visceral common ground between ecstatic avant-jazz, mournful soul, tangled strings and building-shaking electronics, resulting in a "stunningly focused new sound" (Chicago Tribune) that resembles “science fiction on a blockbuster scale” (Washington Post). 2020’s ‘Standards Vol. 1’ EP renders repertoire from the American songbook “completely deconstructed, infused with brand new textures and electronic effects, dreamlike and beautiful” (BBC). In 2025, Bhatia released Each Dream, a Melting Door, a collaborative EP with the pianist Chris Pattishall described by TapeOp as “a mind-melting work that pushes the boundaries of ‘jazz.’”
Since 2014 Bhatia has been a member of the band Son Lux, releasing several recordings and giving hundreds of performances worldwide. The trio earned Oscar and BAFTA nominations for their score for 2023’s Best Picture-winning film Everything Everywhere All At Once; their latest score is for Marvel Studios’ critically acclaimed Thunderbolts*.
Bhatia recently participated in NYC’s Roots In Sound Festival, curated by renowned pianist David Virelles and also featuring avant jazz giants Henry Threadgill and Andrew Cyrille. He also debuted a new arrangement of his film collaboration with Apichatpong Weerasethakul at AIR Aspen, Aspen Art Museum’s new flagship initiative designed to explore the role of art in addressing the questions and complexities of our time through interdisciplinary collaborations, conversations, and site-specific artworks and performances. Other presenters include Werner Herzog, Matthew Barney and Caroline Polachek. After the release of ‘Environments’ Bhatia and his bandmates will embark on a select run of Midwest and East coast tour dates to celebrate the album’s release, including shows in Chicago, Philadelphia and Brooklyn. All upcoming dates are listed below.
TOUR DATES
Sept. 13 - Chicago, IL - Sound & Gravity Festival
Sept. 14 - Milwaukee, WI - Vivarium
Sept. 15 - Minneapolis, MN - Berlin
Oct. 7 - Pittsburgh, PA - The Andy Warhol Museum
Oct. 8 - Philadelphia, PA - Solar Myth
Oct. 10 - Springfield, MA - HOPE Center for the Arts
Oct. 11 - Brooklyn, NY - Public Records
Oct. 12 - Baltimore, MD - Creative Alliance