Rock music has always had a complicated relationship with faith. When it works, belief shows up with dirt under its fingernails—earned, argued with, and lived inside. When it doesn’t, it sounds like slogans. Ananda Xenia Shakti understands that difference, and “The Perfumed Garden,” her latest release with Love Power the Band, lands firmly on the right side of that line.
This isn’t a song chasing radio or trends. It doesn’t care whether you’re comfortable. It moves at its own pace, repeating phrases not because it lacks ideas, but because repetition has always been how people actually learn something—whether it’s a gospel refrain, a protest chant, or a punk chorus screamed until it becomes truth. Shakti’s mantra-like lines—“I will walk to you,” “It’s everywhere”—don’t resolve; they insist. And that insistence is the point.
Musically, “The Perfumed Garden” strips things down to essentials. There’s no glossy production polish trying to smooth the edges. The space between notes matters as much as the notes themselves. That restraint gives the song weight. You’re not being carried along by a hook; you’re being asked to show up. This writer has written for decades about music as lived experience, and this track feels lived in—like something shaped by miles traveled, not studio shortcuts.
Shakti’s background matters here. You can hear the punk lineage—not in volume or distortion, but in attitude. Punk was never just about noise; it was about refusal. Refusal to fake it. Refusal to dress things up for approval. “The Perfumed Garden” carries that same refusal into devotional territory. It’s spiritual music without the safety rails, faith without branding. That alone makes it interesting.
Lyrically, the song avoids preaching. Instead, it keeps pointing—back to presence, back to the idea that transcendence isn’t somewhere else. That’s a risky move. It leaves the listener responsible for what happens next. Some will find it hypnotic. Others will find it unsettling. Both reactions are valid, and both mean the song is doing its job.
“The Perfumed Garden” won’t convert anyone overnight, and it doesn’t try to. What it does do—quietly, stubbornly—is remind you that music can still be a place where belief is tested, not packaged. In a landscape full of disposable singles, Ananda Xenia Shakti offers something tougher, slower, and ultimately more honest. That’s rock ’n’ roll enough.
–David Marshall
