If Montrealer Maria Gajraj is still a hidden treasure, trust your humble servant here to try and turn that situation around. The young lady from Ottawa, barely in her twenties, plays the organ, an animal she began taming at the age of 19! A bit late, some might say. No matter, the advantage probably being that her approach to the instrument is not as traditional as that of others. The young artist’s debut album, Exhale, is a short but rich feast of soaring, minimalist and post-minimalist sounds produced on the organ of McGill University’s Redpath Hall, a French classical-style instrument.
TO KNOW MORE, READ MY INTERVIEW WITH MARIA GAJRAJ
For all those who remember the powerful emotions generated by the soundtrack to Christopher Nolan’s film Interstellar, with Hans Zimmer’s splendid score that includes a large organ section, Exhale may serve as a continuation and exploration. Gajraj, who has a clear affinity with the Minimalist repertoire (although she also loves Messiaen and medieval music – she plays the organetto, a portable instrument from the Middle Ages), set about creating this programme after a period in which she questioned the relevance of continuing to play the instrument, and her connexion with this world. The works by Robyn Jacob, George Rahi, Hania Rani, Esther-Ruth Teel, Ann Southam and herself are all, as mentioned above, from the minimalist repetitive schoolo and support a clear discourse, discursively limpid and rhythmically agile, with a few ambient exceptions. In the interview I conducted with her (READ HERE), she talks about how Exhale served as a rebirth, a reboot of her love for the organ and its practice.
We can’t help but be delighted by the exciting result of this fantastic first opus!
The full album will be released on Friday 23 May 2025 on People Places records
