Indian electronic artist I-ZEN is introducing his musical world with “LINEAR,” a new collaboration featuring legendary Indian mandolin player U. Srinivas. Blending India’s rich musical traditions with electronic production, the track explores ideas of perception, identity, and the space beyond what we believe to be real while offering an early glimpse into a larger body of work from I-ZEN.
“LINEAR” is the result of a creative process that began years ago, when Srinivas entered the studio and recorded a collection of musical phrases and ideas before leaving the material with I-ZEN to develop. What followed was an extended period of production, experimentation, and refinement as I-ZEN considered how to build a contemporary electronic composition around the work of one of India’s most celebrated instrumentalists.
The collaboration also brought a responsibility to preserve the integrity of Srinivas’ contribution. Rather than digitally recreating the musician for the track’s visual world, I-ZEN made the deliberate decision not to use AI to recreate his likeness. Instead, he chose to keep the focus on the music while respecting the legacy and original contribution of Srinivas.
The result introduces both the sonic and conceptual foundation of I-ZEN, with the artist set to expand on that world through a larger upcoming project. His sound draws from trance, techno, and darker psytrance, while his influences span artists including The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers, Moby, and Metallica, alongside Goa trance, Infected Mushroom, Paul van Dyk, and Armin van Buuren.
That wide range of influences is reflected in the larger project, where some tracks lean heavily into Indian instrumentation and traditional musical elements while others explore more contemporary electronic territory. Rather than treating those sounds as separate worlds, I-ZEN sees them as complementary parts of the same musical language.
For I-ZEN, that connection also creates an opportunity to introduce younger and international listeners to the breadth of India’s musical culture beyond the familiar framework of Bollywood. His long-term vision includes collaborating with musicians from different regions of India and bringing their diverse musical traditions into a global electronic context.
“LINEAR” therefore serves as more than an introduction to I-ZEN. It establishes the foundation for an album built around the intersection of tradition, technology, identity, and perception, while exploring how electronic music can create new ways of experiencing sounds and cultural traditions that may otherwise remain outside the familiar.
With the larger project still to unfold, I-ZEN is beginning his international electronic journey by looking inward—using the musical heritage of India as a starting point while exploring what might exist beyond the boundaries of the familiar.