AGAM formed in Bangalore in 2003 with a premise that should have been harder to pull off than it turned out to be. Carnatic classical music and progressive rock are not obvious companions. The rhythmic structures, the melodic systems, the emotional registers, all of it runs on different logic. And yet AGAM have spent over two decades proving that the collision between them produces something richer than either tradition generates on its own.
Their debut album The Inner Self Awakens established the template. Malhar Jam, which appeared on MTV’s Coke Studio, brought them to a wider audience. The 2025 album Arrival of The Ethereal continued pushing the creative boundaries outward. Each release has been the work of a band that takes its source material seriously enough to genuinely understand it before attempting to do anything new with it.
The Ascension, released June 26, 2026, is their most ambitious production to date. That is not a marketing phrase. It is the accurate description of what happens when you bring a Czech symphony orchestra into a Carnatic progressive rock recording.
The Single
The Ascension is built on Marivere Gathi, a composition in raga Anandabhairavi originally written by Shyama Shastri, one of the foundational figures of the Carnatic classical tradition. Choosing a piece with that kind of historical and cultural weight as the foundation for a progressive rock production is a decision that demands real knowledge and real respect for the material. AGAM bring both.
The Czech Symphony Orchestra’s involvement gives the single a scale that most independent music simply cannot reach. The orchestral arrangement sweeps outward in a way that creates genuine cinematic breadth, but it does not swallow the band’s identity. Harish Sivaramakrishnan’s vocals sit at the center of the production, TPK’s rhythmic contributions keep the track grounded in the Carnatic tradition, and rainyharp adds another layer of texture to an already densely layered arrangement.
Raga Anandabhairavi carries traditional associations of devotion and a specific quality of gentle, searching longing. That emotional character runs through the entire production, giving all the orchestral grandeur an emotional anchor rather than letting it become spectacle. The scale serves the feeling rather than the other way around, which is exactly the right priority.
The accompanying music video extends the ambition into visual territory and is worth experiencing alongside the audio rather than separately.
The Music Video
The accompanying music video matches the ambition of the audio. AGAM have described The Ascension as their largest production to date, and the visual component reflects that commitment. It is a release that asks to be experienced as a complete artistic statement rather than just a track to stream in passing.
The Verdict
AGAM keep raising the bar for themselves and for what independent music from India can look like at its most ambitious. The Ascension is a single that genuinely earns the word monumental. A Shyama Shastri composition in raga Anandabhairavi, performed with a Czech symphony orchestra, anchored by a band that has spent over twenty years learning how to hold all of this together without letting any of it fall apart.
This is a band that knows exactly what it is doing.
The Ascension | Marivere Gathi is out now. Released June 26, 2026. Features Harish Sivaramakrishnan, TPK, Czech Symphony Orchestra, and rainyharp. Follow AGAM for new releases.
