Rafiq Bhatia – Guitarist, Composer, Producer

The New York Times proclaims “Rafiq Bhatia is writing his own musical language,” heralding him as “one of the most intriguing figures in music today.” A guitarist, composer, producer, and sound artist “who refuses to be pinned to one genre, culture or instrument,” Bhatia “treats his guitar, synthesizers, drum machines and electronic effects as architectural elements,” the Times writes. “Sound becomes contour; music becomes something to step into rather than merely follow.”

Bhatia’s 2018 album Breaking English finds a visceral common ground between ecstatic avant-jazz, mournful soul, tangled strings and building-shaking electronics, resulting in a "stunningly focused new sound" (Chicago Tribune) that resembles “science fiction on a blockbuster scale” (Washington Post). 2020’s Standards Vol. 1 (EP) renders repertoire from the American songbook “completely deconstructed, infused with brand new textures and electronic effects, dreamlike and beautiful” (BBC).

Bhatia has presented his music live in dozens of performances across three continents. He has been commissioned by the Kronos Quartet, Cincinnati Symphony, Walker Art Center, Liquid Music, Newfields, The Jazz Gallery, Toledo Museum of Art, and more. Bhatia has collaborated with Arooj Aftab, Michael Cina, Dave Douglas, Vijay Iyer, Okkyung Lee, Billy Hart, Helado Negro, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Moses Sumney and many others.

More recently, the painstaking sound design of Bhatia’s own projects has inspired other artists to recruit him as a producer and mixing engineer. 2020 saw the release of pianist Chris Pattishall’s debut album, Zodiac, featuring the music of Mary Lou Williams with production and mixing by Bhatia. The New York Times hailed it as “a startling achievement,” while The Wire writes, “the production successfully achieves an impression of solid forms melting and reconfiguring, ethereal transitions precipitating dramatic and frequent shifts of mood and manner… an audible space opening up between the routine and the magical.”

Since 2014, Bhatia has been a member of the band Son Lux. Together, they have released three albums and numerous EPs, and given over 500 performances worldwide. Most recently, they scored the film Everything Everywhere All At Once for A24 which was nominated for Best Original Score at the Oscars and BAFTAs, and included collaborations with David Byrne, André Benjamin, Mitski, Moses Sumney, Randy Newman, and more. 

Bhatia is a Jerome Foundation Composer/Sound Artist Fellow and adjunct faculty of the New School’s Performer-Composer Master of Music program. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Selected Press

  • “He treats his guitar, synthesizers, drum machines and electronic effects as architectural elements — sound becomes contour; music becomes something to step into rather than merely follow.” – The New York Times

  • “Rafiq Bhatia has a gift for turning expectations inside out.” – NPR Music

  • “His music manages to marry the busyness and vibrancy of jazz and the sparseness and sparkle of electronic music.” – BBC Radio 3

  • “Brilliant [...] Bhatia has helped forge the electric guitar’s future.” – Electronic Musician

  • “Always adventurous … a challenging, captivating listen.” – Stereogum

  • “He draws freely from jazz, rock, and contemporary classical music to create work that celebrates hybridity, both musically and personally.” – Jazz Times

  • “An incredibly gifted artist who, on his latest solo album, blows up all expectations about what can be done with the instrument and how it should sound.” – NPR Music

  • “Son Lux’s score is a remarkable juggling act that oscillates from ominous to awe-inspiring and back again, with a few playful digressions along the way.” – Indiewire on Everything Everywhere All At Once

  • “Everything Everywhere All At Once seeks a dynamic score able to match its ferocity. Son Lux delivers.” – Pitchfork on Everything Everywhere All At Once

Selected Credits

  • Nominated for Best Original Score at the Academy Awards and BAFTA Awards for Son Lux’s Everything Everywhere All At Once score (2023)

  • Sun Dogs Film-Sound Series contributing composer in collaboration with Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Memoria, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives) (2022)

  • Kronos Quartet “Fifty for the Future” contributing composer alongside Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass, Jlin, Tanya Tagaq and Henry Threadgill (2020)

  • Contributing composer to Jennifer Koh’s GRAMMY Award-winning Alone Together project (2020)

  • Past artist-in-residence at Duke Performances as a part of Building Bridges: Muslims in America, an initiative supported by Doris Duke Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts (2019)

  • Jerome Foundation Composer/Sound Artist Fellow (Minnesota / New York)

  • Past judge for the Asian American Arts Alliance’s Van Lier Fellowship (New York)

  • Past judge for the McKnight Fellowships for Music (Minnesota)

  • Has been invited to speak and/or facilitate masterclasses by the National Gallery of Art, Big Ears Festival, Berklee College of Music, Melbourne International Jazz Festival, IUPUI, and the USC Thornton School of Music, and is currently adjunct faculty of the New School’s Performer-Composer Master of Music program