Artist Spotlight: Gohj-ji
Navin Sahjpaul’s music through loss, healing, and premonition
Music as an outlet is peacefully cathartic—an opportunity for boundless expression in a uniquely personal way.
Due to those purifying qualities, the most heartfelt records are often written by those going through a tough time. For Vancouver solo act Gohj-ji, faced with the loss of his mother in his teenage years, that was exactly the case.
Navin Sahjpaul wrote his first-ever comprehensive record as Gohj-ji, You’re Not Here, through grief. The pensive, slow-plodding EP is immersive, ambient, and tinged with a bittersweet solemnity. It’s clear as a listener that You’re Not Here is an ode to something lost, but certainly not forgotten; voice clips from Sahjpaul’s mother can be found sprinkled throughout its five tracks and the mood of longing is consistent—almost overwhelming—from start to finish.
“It was definitely a release. I don’t know in what way yet. I don’t know if it was more for myself or letting the world know what kind of person she was, but it was definitely a release,” he says, about You’re Not Here.
The remaining two Gohj-ji records were not nearly as heavy or thematic. After his first EP came Me Drowning, followed by this August’s Summer Romance.
While the former is stylistically similar to You’re Not Here, the latter is melodic, jubilant, and sunny. It welcomes a departure from his previous collections, edging away from ambiance and closer to indie rock with the inclusion of drums, bass, and hooky vocal melodies.
“I think people just saw me as someone who made ambient music, but I’m heavily inspired by multiple genres and I wanted to make it clear,” says Sahjpaul. “It was me telling people, ‘Hey, I also do this.’”
Conceptually, the theme of Summer Romance is as amorous as it sounds. Sahjpaul describes its central focus as “a love that’s too daydreamy to be true,” since it revolves around a girl he has yet to meet, one he “came up with” before writing a record he refers to as his “call out for love.”
The EP’s shift in songwriting arrived in tandem with a change in the artist’s social life. While venturing out of the comforts of his room, Sahjpaul fell into the local music scene and found fresh inspiration. Meeting new people and hearing new music got him looking forward to writing and performing for a live audience—a concept previously foreign to him.
Gohj-ji is currently collaborating and hoping to play live with members of the local music community. He’s also working on putting together a music video for a to-be-determined track featuring images of Vancouver.
In Sahjpaul’s own words, his goal for the future is to grow as a musician and “get people dancing,” but for now, his material can be found solely on the world wide web.
