Madame Gandhi (born Kiran Gandhi) is an award-winning artist and activist best known for crafting uplifting, percussive electronic music rooted in positive messages about gender liberation and personal power.
Gandhi first cut her teeth as a touring drummer for the likes of M.I.A., Thievery Corporation, Kehlani and others. But she stepped out into the spotlight as a solo artist and producer in 2015 after her story about running the London Marathon free-bleeding to combat menstrual stigma went viral around the world. While writing and recording material, the very busy Gandhi has been listed on Forbes 30 Under 30 in Music. Her 2020 TED Talk about conscious music consumption has been viewed over one million times.
Her video for “Waiting For Me,” which was shot in Mumbai won the Music Video Jury Award at last year’s SXSW Film Festival. Her 100% Organically Sourced x Sound MANA nature sound pack won the New Wav award at least year’s Splice Awards.
And adding to a busy resume, Gandhi completed a Masters in Music Science and Technology at Stanford University’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA). As part of her studies, she spent time in Antarctica sampling the sounds of glaciers melting to create empathy and awareness around climate change.
Late lat week, the award-winning artist and activist released her latest, short-form album Vibrations through Sony Music Masterworks. The album is a danceable, five-part atmospheric meditation that doubles as a rousing statement on gratitude. Vibrations is the third and final part of a trilogy — following 2016’s Voices and 2019’s Visions — that looks at personal liberation, activism, being in service and evolving in love. “Each mini-album begins with a V because I liked the subliminal reference to the feminine anatomy. It’s healing. It’s energy. It’s music. It’s touch, feel. It’s inclusive,” Gandhi says. But instead of being a coda, Vibrations is about “the feeling of soothing loneliness in a low, vibrational way.”
Fittingly, the album is as effervescently escapist as its title implies and is rooted in personal experience: When Gandhi came out of pandemic-related isolation, she felt as though she were a different person: uplifted, vivacious, content. The album manages to be a psychic rebirth, a life’s plan and a celebration of existence — simultaneously.
Vibrations latest single, the MNDR and Ebonie Smith co-produced “Heart Wide Open” is a joyous club rocker that’s also a loving homage to Fela Kuti with the song featuring a big, funky horn section, twinkling Rhodes and shuffling African-inspired polyrhythm paired with euphoria-inducing hooks and Gandhi’s sultry cooing. The song is rooted in an uplifting message about the power of vulnerability. joy, honesty and of course, music — with a narrator, who’s ready to change things for the positive.
