By Claire Montgomery
Some records are written. Others feel discovered. Devotion, the latest release from Ananda Xenia Shakti and Love Power the Band, belongs firmly in the second category. Inspired by a deeply personal experience during a meditation retreat in the mountains of Andhra Pradesh, India, the single is a work of uncommon sincerity, a recording that treats music not as performance but as prayer.
That may sound like a lofty ambition, but Devotion succeeds precisely because it never strains for grandeur. Instead, it unfolds with remarkable patience, allowing its message to emerge naturally, one breath at a time.
Ananda’s journey to this moment has been anything but conventional. Long before she became known for devotional music, meditation, and spiritual teaching, she performed under the name Xenia Holliday as a member of the pioneering all-female punk band the B-Girls. She shared stages with the Clash, performed at legendary venues such as CBGB, and even contributed backing vocals to Blondie’s AutoAmerican. The transformation from punk provocateur to spiritual artist might seem dramatic, but listening closely, it becomes clear that the impulse driving both chapters of her life is remarkably similar.
Punk has always been about authenticity, independence, and rejecting artifice. Devotion carries those same values, only in a different form.
The story behind the song is as compelling as the recording itself. During a silent retreat, Ananda found herself awake in the middle of the night, battling illness and unable to meditate in the traditional sense. Rather than resisting the experience, she quietly began chanting the names of Radha and Krishna. Gradually, a melody emerged, weaving itself around the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra. In the hours that followed, physical discomfort gave way to a profound sense of peace and expansion.
The resulting composition carries the unmistakable imprint of that experience. Devotion blends elements of ambient music, devotional chant, world music, and dream pop without settling completely into any of them. The arrangement is intentionally spacious, allowing gentle percussion, atmospheric textures, and layered instrumentation to create an immersive environment rather than a conventional pop structure.
Ananda’s voice remains the song’s emotional center. There’s a striking lack of self-consciousness in her performance. She isn’t trying to dazzle listeners with technical precision or vocal acrobatics. Instead, she sings with warmth, intimacy, and complete conviction. Her delivery suggests someone sharing a revelation rather than staging a performance, and that distinction makes all the difference.
Love Power the Band deserves equal recognition for understanding the value of restraint. Modern production often treats silence as an enemy, filling every available space with sound. Here, silence is treated as another instrument. Notes linger. Rhythms breathe. The music expands and contracts organically, reflecting the very themes that inspired the song.
The accompanying video reinforces the single’s meditative atmosphere, drawing on imagery inspired by nature, devotion, and India’s rich spiritual traditions. It complements the song’s emotional landscape without overwhelming it, allowing the visuals and music to work together as parts of a larger experience.
In recent years, spirituality has become increasingly fashionable within popular culture, often packaged into bite-sized slogans and carefully curated lifestyles. Devotion offers something far more substantial. It doesn’t promise easy enlightenment or instant transformation. Instead, it acknowledges that wisdom often emerges from discomfort and that beauty frequently reveals itself when expectations fall away.
Perhaps that’s why the song resonates so deeply. It doesn’t insist on being understood intellectually. It asks only that listeners remain present long enough to feel it.
In an era defined by speed, distraction, and endless noise, Ananda Xenia Shakti and Love Power the Band have created something unexpectedly radical: a song that values stillness. Devotion is neither nostalgic nor trendy. It exists entirely in its own space, drawing from ancient traditions while speaking directly to the anxieties of modern life.
The irony, of course, is that an artist who once helped define the sound of rebellion has now discovered the power of silence. But maybe those things were never as different as they seemed.
