Chad Lawson - Awakening: The Stillness Within (2026) [Hi-Res]

Awakening: The Stillness Within is a landmark cross-cultural release by American pianist and composer Chad Lawson, issued on May 8, 2026 through Vedam Records — Universal Music Group India's wellness-focused imprint — in co-release with Decca Records US. The album brings together Lawson's signature language of meditative, minimalist piano and the rich sonic universe of Indian classical music.
The collaborators are among the finest voices in their traditions. Purbayan Chatterjee is a sitar virtuoso of the Senia Maihar Gharana known for fusing Indian classical heritage with contemporary world music forms. Rasika Shekar is an internationally acclaimed bansuri flautist, vocalist, and composer — a Grammy-credited artist and winner of the Indian Independent Music Award for Best Instrumental Composition (2022). The album's first single, "Still Waters," was shaped through deep improvisation: two artists from entirely different musical worlds discovering a shared emotional vocabulary in real time, without pre-planning or overthinking.
Vedam Records was built on the philosophy of delivering authentic wellness music rooted in the Indian Vedic tradition, spanning yoga, meditation, focus, sleep, and chakra balancing. Awakening: The Stillness Within sits at the heart of that mission — a work conceived not as performance, but as an invitation to pause, breathe, and inhabit stillness. It is Lawson's most ambitious intercultural statement to date, and one of the most significant East-West piano collaborations of 2026.

Tracklist:
1-1 Chad Lawson - The Silence Before Dawn [8:51]
1-2 Chad Lawson;Purbayan Chatterjee - Bhairav Rising [7:14]
1-3 Chad Lawson;Rasika Shekar;Hersh Desai - Still Waters [12:30]
1-4 Chad Lawson;Paayal Lal;Hersh Desai - Shakti Echoes [6:38]
1-5 Chad Lawson - Awakening: Prayer in Aether [5:35]
1-6 Chad Lawson;Paayal Lal - The Fifth Breath [4:45]
1-7 Chad Lawson;Jehangir Jehangir - Devi Within [8:06]
1-8 Chad Lawson;Anushka Lewis - Sacred Memory [6:24]
1-9 Chad Lawson;Rasika Shekar - Awakening: The Stillness Within [10:40]