The Unimaginable: A Profound New EP by Ram Dass.

Confronting the loss of his newborn son, Ram Dass, a longtime music producer-turned singer-songwriter walks through the stages of grief and loss in ‘The Unimaginable’ as he seeks to find solace, peace, and happiness amidst heavy turmoil. Humanity itself is held in this music as the tragedy of mortality is mourned with exquisite and cinematic soundscapes and is at once comforted through simple three part vocal harmony and sincere words offering the listener to trust in the unknown. Lyrically and sonically poetic, this EP is a balm to the broken heart.

We recently had the opportunity to talk to him about his debut album as singer-songwriter in the following interview: 

After having gone through an emotional development sharing your very intimate relationship with grief and healing through your music, have you experienced a shift in your creative process as a singer songwriter and as a producer from ‘And Now He Has Wings’ to ‘The Unimaginable’?

These two EPs were incredibly important for me to produce and create, both in terms of my life story and expressing that, but also as a creative process— they were the culmination of my life and musical career up to that point. Now that they are done and are about to be fully released, I feel a sense of completion and almost reborn in a way. It’s funny since so much of the material is about life and death and now I find myself in new territory, as if creating and releasing the music is simultaneously a birth and death in and of itself.

Your previous release,‘And Now He Has Wings’ is cinematic and ethereal and your new EP ‘The Unimaginable’ feels so grounded in the human experience. How would you describe the impact that your own healing process has in your music?

The first EP, ‘And Now He Has Wings’,  was intended to see the human life cycle from an ecstatic omniscient point of view. ‘The Unimaginable’ is taking that story and bringing it into the first-person lived experience. The way the first EP turned out, it’s like turning the human experience of incarnation into pure energy, but there are no lyrics, so you can’t put your finger on exactly what the feelings being portrayed are. The songs on ‘The Unimaginable’ are truly my feelings at different points in my journey through grief, so it’s very real and grounded in reality; very literal. I have never created something so personal before, so the task was different than other projects I have done. I wasn’t doing this just for music’s sake, but to really express something. It resulted, I think, in very powerful and poignant music that I couldn’t have created just for fun.

It’s admirable how your songs in ‘The Unimaginable’ can express the interwoven beauty between the past and the future offering an expansive feeling of hope and comfort. Was that your intention with this album?

I’m not sure it was my intention exactly, but that’s my story. I went through some really awful things and came out the other side a happier person, somehow. I felt it was important to express the whole journey, not just the sorrow but also the joy; not just the celebration, but the despair. I’m glad that the arc of the music offers hope and comfort.

The beauty of grief and love carry us through your album in a very simple and tender way; especially in your instrumental pieces. Do you have plans to continue exploring with classical or instrumental music?

Absolutely. I was raised with classical and instrumental music and it’s an intrinsic part of my musical being. I love how much emotion can be expressed without words and how feelings can cross cultural boundaries through melody, rhythm, and harmony. It’s miraculous and probably a lifelong pursuit and enjoyment.

Collaboration has been a big part of your musical projects. Can you tell us more about the collaborators on this album?

I did a lot of co-writing on this record. A dear friend of mine named KJ Song co-wrote a few of the tunes on the record but also helped me see through some of the other songs to the end, when I was feeling stuck on lyrics or other parts of the song structure. They were like a musical doula for me and also sung on “Trust in the Blue”, and “Niagara”.

For “Prelude for Siddhartha”, I created the piano version as an improvisation. I then sent it to Shannon Hayden, who is a passionate and brilliant cellist and violinist. She created the cello parts to sit on top of that piano composition and made it what it is. I also had a longtime collaborator and friend, Jared May, lay down bass for a few tracks, Tripp Dudley on drums for “April 13” and the McKay Garner, who remixed some of the tracks from ‘And Now He Has Wings’ into Dolby Atmos/Immersive Audio, recorded the drums for the song “The Unimaginable”.

On “April 13” we experience a special softness in your voice. Did you have a different relationship with your singing at the time it was recorded?

Like “Prelude for Siddhartha”, I recorded the vocals as an improvisation. I think I did the whole thing in one or two takes and then added harmonies on top of that. I wanted to do something different with my voice from the rest of the songs that were more folky and reminiscent of James Taylor or Jason Mraz. I didn’t think about it much, but this is what came out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9TUcciGFF0

Can you tell us the story behind this song?

April 13 was the day that my son passed away. I felt that this song was about confronting the feeling of knowing that someone you love is going to die, experiencing that death, and then finding a sense of newness and openness after it happens. Death is a funny thing. It’s so much like birth, but flipped. There’s work for both and an incredible climax of energy, and then peace… I wanted to show all sides of that experience.

What I went through was unimaginable and how I ended up was unimaginable. The title itself for me isn’t just about the song, which itself is hopeful— it’s speaking to the unimaginable loss, the unimaginable journey through grief, and the unimaginable happiness on the other side.

What is coming next for you in your career?

Lots more music to come. I will be touring again with Snatam Kaur next year as well as producing her next record and am aiming to be putting out more music of my own over the course of the year. It’s an exciting time and there is a lot to look forward to!

For more information about Ram Dass please visit: www.ramdassmusic.com