Jonny Greenwood and the call of the East: there’s a new album

There is an invisible thread that unites the foggy countryside of Oxfordshire to the golden sands of Rajasthan. A thread that Johnny Greenwoodthe sound architect of Radioheadhas never stopped tending. Ten years after that “healing madness” that was “Junun”, the guitarist has decided to reunite the caravan: the Israeli-American composer Shye Ben Tzur and the Indian ensemble The Rajasthan Express they are back.

The new chapter of this journey is called “Ranjha“, an album that promises to be not just a sequel, but a true sensorial evolution. If “Junun” was born within the thousand-year-old walls of the Mehrangarh Fort in India, “Ranjha” found its form in a more intimate and controlled environment: the Greenwood studio in England. But don’t let the word “controlled” fool you.

“It was a completely different experience,” explained Shye Ben Tzur. The goal was not to tame the chaos, but to capture it with new clarity. The result is a sound that, according to the composer, does not just pass through the ears: “Feel this music on your body. First it affects your physicality, then your emotional state, and only at the end do the words come.”

It wasn’t the group’s intention to make us wait a decade. The seeds of “Ranjha” had been sown already between 2017 and 2018, while the formation opened for Radiohead concerts around the world. Then, as often happens, life got in the way: the pandemic, Jonny’s commitments with The Smile and film soundtracks.

But the lure of that musical “candy” — as Greenwood calls it — was too strong to ignore:

Music is like a sweet shop. There are so many styles and talents that it’s hard to stick to one thing, especially when you see others having fun elsewhere. And with Shye and our Indian collaborators, fun is guaranteed.

To accompany the announcement, the group released the title track“Ranjha”, along with a mesmerizing video curated by director Ian Patrick. It is a piece where the insistent percussion of Rajasthan intertwines with the cultured electronics of Greenwood, creating a bridge between millenary oriental tradition and western avant-garde.

The full album, consisting of 11 tracks and produced by Sam Petts-Davies, will be released onMay 8, 2026. It will be available in various formats, including a special edition in “red and coral splatter” colored vinyl, as if to recall the colors of the Indian sunsets that have inspired this project since day one.