Crafted by multi-instrumentalist Josh Roydhouse, Chakras is seven pieces of varying solfeggio frequencies, each corresponding with one of the seven main chakras in the body. For Josh, who started out making folk music, diving into and producing ambient sounds has been a profoundly healing experience following a time of physical and emotional turmoil.
We sat down with Josh to talk about the journey from folk music to frequency healing, what it means to compose an album around the seven chakras, and what he hopes you feel when his music finds you by the water.
Image credit: Josh Roydhouse
A few years ago I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. I woke up one morning with double vision and didn't know what was going on. I ended up having massive chest surgery.
Since then I’ve come a long way, and it’s manageable now. But the experience made me realise you’ve got to make the most of every day, because we’re only passing through. So I became rather prolific with my songwriting. And whatever I wrote, I released. I recorded lots of music and just kind of put it out there for my own sake, really. Just to leave my mark in the sand, as they say.
For around seven years now, I’ve been focused on making ambient music. I love Brian Eno and Harold Budd, as well as early 80s Japanese ambient albums. A lot of my stuff was very drone-like anyway, and I always like that drone part of music. I find that changing keys is disruptive to one’s feeling of the track. It takes a certain time for any individual to get into a groove or a feeling or a key and into that meditative state.
People say, ‘You should be writing some stuff that includes your voice.’ But, you know, there are so many songs out there, and so many people have so many things to say. Sometimes silence is golden.
I brought all my recording gear and all my instruments and set up down there. I walked around and got the frequency of the place. I went into a couple of the spaces and used my phone to record how they sounded, and then I’d go back to the studio and write something inspired by that. I did a track for the Turkish Hamam and the Ice Cave.
I was quite sick at that point and was suffering a lot with mental anguish, and I didn't really know what was happening with me. So it was a good time to get away and just ground myself.
I brought with me an old organ called a Zarenbourg. It’s like a Rhodes keyboard, which is really inspirational, and it has beautiful tones. I brought my lap steel guitar, which is from the 1960s and which I play quite a bit, and some Japanese instruments that I love, plus guitars. The rest is strings and different synths that I have on my computer. In the end I wrote a whole album, which was the Ritual album.
Then the Arts & Culture team and I got talking about different frequencies and solfeggio frequencies, and how that can relate to potential healing.
I go into my studio, and the first thing I do is I press record. I don't practise. And whatever’s coming out is coming out. I think capturing that first initial sound – especially in the morning when you first get up – your ears are very attuned and very sensitive to what they hear. It creates a certain vibe and a certain atmosphere. I write my best stuff first thing, when my ears aren’t tired.
Doing the album for Chakras, I found the pure tone, which is quite an annoying tone if you listen to it by itself. I used that as the base and blended that back out. And I kept on bringing it back in for reference to ensure I was keeping the subtle frequency going. It was a little bit challenging, working out how to keep this raw tone in there while making the pieces musical and pleasant to listen to at the same time. I found that frequency with my equaliser, and I notched it out a bit so I could pull out some of the harsh parts. But I kept the frequency going continuously through the piece. That was quite an interesting process to go through. I added lots of different organs and pianos, and then I'd strip it back to barely nothing. I found that less was more.
In terms of frequencies and the chakras, the track with the lowest frequency relates to the root chakra, and gets higher as you move up through the chakras.
This album came out of my heart and soul, and it’s deeply personal to me. It’s a personal reflection of what was going through me, and it helped with my mindfulness. It created a space for me to be balanced and present, and it’s good for my wellbeing to release the music that came from that.
I knew about the seven main energy centres in your body. I thought it was a bit of witchcraft, maybe. But it’s 2,500 years old; there's got to be something to it. We’re all just energy really; we’re all just vibration. I mean, you can feel energy when you hold your hands close to each other.
I went into creating this album with an open mind. It’s so subjective, and people’s reactions to certain pieces will be subjective. Each person will experience it differently and get different benefits out of it. Everyone has their own ailments and their own issues and people will be pulled towards a certain frequency, just naturally. We all resonate with something that maybe needs some tuning, among the thousands of chakras that are in our body.
It also depends on when people listen to it and what kind of frame of mind they’re in at the time. A good friend of mine, his daughter can’t sleep without listening to my music. I’m just chuffed that I can soothe someone or nurture someone with my music.
Everyone seems to feel calmer, more centred, more grounded, more emotionally balanced, more enlightened as they go through the different frequencies relating to the chakras. The various frequencies basically tune each chakra.
Ultimately, it’s all about relaxation and working with your own inner self.
Listen to the full Chakras album as you immerse yourself in our Amphitheatre pools during Seek the Heat, a multi-sensory experience that is complimentary with bathing this winter. We also invite you to listen at home, with Josh Roydhouse's album available via Spotify or Apple Music.