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elbourne-based Indian-Australian artist SIYER, also known as Shriram Iyer, has released his new album Flow of Nectar, a collection of chants that combines traditional Indian spiritual sounds with contemporary ambient and world-music production.
Released in August, the album explores familiar sacred sounds through a modern musical approach, while retaining their devotional character. SIYER describes the project as “peaceful, yet powerful”, with the music intended to offer listeners an opportunity to slow down and listen without requiring prior knowledge of the chants.
For SIYER, the project has a personal connection to the sounds he encountered growing up.
“For so many of us, these chants are part of our cultural memory,” he said. “You may remember hearing them from your parents or grandparents without even knowing what they meant. Years later, you realise those sounds have stayed somewhere inside you.”
The Melbourne artist said Flow of Nectar was shaped by the experience of growing up with Indian musical traditions while living in a multicultural environment.
The album does not attempt to reproduce the chants solely within their traditional musical setting. Instead, SIYER has placed them alongside atmospheric production and contemporary arrangements, creating a listening experience aimed at audiences familiar with Indian music as well as those encountering the sounds for the first time.
“It is unmistakably Indian in its roots,” SIYER said. “But you don’t have to be Indian to connect with it. You don’t have to understand every word. The emotion comes first.”
The idea of creating a calmer listening experience was another motivation behind the project. SIYER said the pace and constant stimulation of modern life influenced his decision to make music that could be listened to without demanding the listener’s full attention.
“I wanted to create something that asks absolutely nothing of you,” he said. “You can sit with it, drive with it, meditate with it or simply close your eyes and listen.”
At the same time, SIYER said the album was not intended to strip the chants of their strength in favour of a purely ambient sound.
“There is tremendous strength in these chants,” he said. “I wanted to preserve that power while creating a sense of peace around it.”
Executive Producer Monil Patel of Team Reliable Entertainment supported the project with the aim of helping introduce the album to a wider international audience.
“Flow of Nectar brings together Indian tradition and a contemporary global sound in a way that feels both authentic and accessible,” Patel said.
Music Producer Vatsal Chevli also worked on the album, with SIYER crediting both Chevli and Patel for their contributions to the project.
The release follows an established performing career for SIYER, who has appeared in more than 700 live concerts and worked with Indian artists including Shankar Mahadevan, Udit Narayan and Sadhana Sargam.
He has also featured on Charu Suri’s Shayan, described in the release as a GRAMMY-nominated album, and his previous album, Rain of Bhakti: Timeless Mantras, received the Best Global Traditional Album award at the World Entertainment Awards in Los Angeles.
With Flow of Nectar, SIYER has taken a more intimate direction, using familiar Indian chants as the foundation for a contemporary recording aimed at listeners across different backgrounds.
“There is something beautiful about taking a sound your grandmother might recognise and presenting it in a way that someone in Melbourne, Mumbai, London or Los Angeles can put on their headphones and connect with,” he said.
Flow of Nectar is now available on Spotify and YouTube Music.
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