Ramil Ganjoo on ‘Khaak’: ‘This Whole Album is Me Facing Life As a Poet’

As someone who works on commercial projects alongside his independent releases, singer-songwriter Ramil Ganjoo was clear that songs off his debut album Khaak were going to be solely produced by him, alone in his studio. “I had a great time, to be honest,” he says over a phone call.

There’s wistfulness, hope and perspectives from all corners on the tender nine-track Khaak, which also includes two versions each of the songs “Khala” and “Waqt.” Ganjoo, who previously released emotive songs like “Soch” in 2022 and his EP Gulmohar in 2021, retains his folksy, acoustic-meets-dream-pop approach on Khaak, adding coziness and warmth in a manner that’s reminiscent of the likes of Ankur Tewari.

The folksiness heard on Khaak comes from Ganjoo’s love for fingerstyle guitar playing. On the whole, he feels the album has sad songs which sound happy because of the production. What drives that kind of songwriting? “I firmly believe that, in general, it’s tough for everyone, but we can either face it as poets or we can just like surrender to it. So this whole album is like me facing life as a poet,” he adds.

Previously released singles like “Ghar,” “Dariya” and “Khala” are part of Khaak as well, although the title track was the first one he recorded. As far as timelines go, Ganjoo worked on and shelved a few drafts of songs (and there were a total of 16 tracks made) and eventually went back to find a thread to connect it all together. “Waqt” was the oldest written song from 2020, almost finding its way on to Gulmohar EP. “But the soundscape was so different,” the artist says. And then, he added a “Clock Tick Mix” of “Waqt,” which signaled the message that “time is not passing by.” Singer Vidhya also appears on a second version of “Khala,” helping the artist “resolve” the questions he raises in the first version.

Ganjoo had lyrics written by his father for the song “Dariya.” The added perspective is something the artist swears by for a healthy output in all his music. “I had to understand his whole life to compose that song […] If you impose your own feelings and idea of life and love or anything for that matter, you will sort of burn out after one or two years max,” he adds. “Khaak” as the title track too acknowledges the importance of different perspectives. Ganjoo says the album, on the whole, is one about “building one’s self from the ground up.”

There are music videos coming up for “Sheher” and possibly for “Khaak” as well, plus a five-city tour in the works once the monsoons are over. Throughout, Ganjoo says there will be a visual thread that ties the album artwork and his videos together. “I love binding things in a particular aesthetic, actually, because my mom and dad are artists; they are painters and sculptors. I think it’s an inbuilt inherent quality,” he adds.

Listen to ‘Khaak’ below. Stream on more platforms here.