Chandra Lacombe

An evolving dialogue between sound and image (2009–2026)

For over fifteen years, my collaboration with Chandra Lacombe has explored how his musical universe can find expression through images. Beginning with the covers for Namaskar and Estação Bhakta, this ongoing dialogue has grown through listening, friendship, and a shared search for meaning. Each release opens a new encounter with his music, giving its particular rhythms, textures, and spiritual references a visual language of their own. Together, these works trace an evolving artistic partnership, presented here from the most recent releases to the earliest.

Soul Rising

The four singles come together in Soul Rising, an EP whose cover is the sum of its parts: four squares, four colors, four symbols. Deep blue, saffron, terracotta, and forest green; a bird, a flute, a yantra, a flock of hummingbirds. Set side by side, the covers reveal what they were from the start: chapters of a single visual language.

Soul Rising, EP, 2026 • Chandra Lacombe • LISTEN

Cover of Song of Life: hummingbirds around the Flower of Life, on earthy green.

Celebration of Life

Released in May 2026, the fourth single, "Song of Life," answers an inner call to follow the path of light: to lay down our armor, let the ego dissolve, and awaken to the soul. What begins as a whisper becomes a collective song, a celebration of life sung together.

Following the same iconic approach, the cover gathers a collective of hummingbirds feeding on, and being fed by, the Flower of Life, the ancient pattern of interlocking circles that speaks of the interconnection of all living things. Nourishing and nourished at once, they celebrate life with movement and joy, echoing the sacred geometry of the previous single. An earthy green paper texture evokes the forest in a way that is subtle yet deep.

Song of Life, Single, 2026 • Chandra Lacombe • LISTEN

Sacred Geometry of Sound

Working silently behind humanity's spiritual evolution, Mahavatar Babaji has guided many teachers from afar, often without their knowing. According to Paramahansa Yogananda, it was Babaji who taught the techniques of Kriya Yoga to Lahiri Mahasaya around 1861. This set in motion a lineage that reached Sri Yukteswar and, eventually, Yogananda himself, whom Babaji sent to bring Kriya Yoga to the West.

The challenge was to give form to the mantra "Jaya Guru Babaji" without depicting the Master, while continuing the language of the two previous singles. The answer lies in his silent, invisible work: the Babaji yantra rests at the center of the sun, its light radiating outward. Around it, cymatic patterns, the visible geometry of vibration, translate the sacred geometry of sound and echo the modular, danceable pulse of the music.

Jaya Guru Babaji, Single, 2024 • Chandra Lacombe feat. Flowers of the Forest • LISTEN

Cover of Krishna Govinda: kalimba keys, a bansuri flute, the moon, and a peacock feather, on saffron.

Simplicity & Rhythm

The second single, "Krishna Govinda," returns to simplicity in search of the mantra's symbolic essence. We set aside niche symbols that only a few can read, softening the esoteric tone so the cover can welcome those who seek knowledge without adopting a particular identity or style. The choice mirrors Chandra's own music, which moves beyond traditional structures to make mantras more accessible and universal.

The composition brings together the keys of the kalimba; the bansuri, the Indian flute traditionally played by Krishna; the moon (chandra, in Sanskrit); and the peacock feather, emblem of Krishna Govinda. Saffron, a blend of gold and orange and Hinduism's most sacred color, evokes the fire that burns away impurity: purity, wisdom, and the path to enlightenment.

Krishna Govinda, Single, 2024 • Chandra Lacombe • LISTEN

Cover of Song for Peace by Chandra Lacombe: a white bird with a sun at its center, on deep blue.

Song for Peace artwork: the Vedic mantra

Song for Peace artwork: the Vedic mantra in Devanagari script, in white on deep blue.

Song for Peace back cover: a white sun enclosing the bird, on deep blue.

Universality

"Song for Peace" seems to rise from an archetypal source, at once unique and universal. At a time when love and unity are threatened by hatred and separation, the song returns to the ideal of Peace: a peace that begins within each person and multiplies from heart to heart. Accompanied by the Vedic mantra "Om Asato Ma Sadgamaya," it invites a search for Truth and Freedom, with consciousness and knowledge as the light that dispels ignorance.

Because its message is universal, the cover was designed to speak to everyone. A bird, symbol of peace and freedom, carries the sun at its center like a compass guiding it toward enlightenment. Look again and a face in meditation appears, lit from within, with the sun resting where the bindi would be. White stands for peace and light; blue for the Earth and the freedom of all beings.

Song for Peace, single, 2024 • Chandra Lacombe • LISTEN

Soul Rising – EP | Promo Reel

Cover of Jaya by Chandra Lacombe: two meditating figures above an ornate, winged emblem.

Many Paths, One Center

Jaya brings different expressions of devotion into a shared musical space. Its unifying thread is Chandra’s understanding of spiritual practice as a movement toward consciousness and unity. The album’s visual language approaches this convergence through a composition in which distinct elements find their place around a common center.

The Om symbol rises above a lotus, framed by symmetrical forms and two figures bowing toward one another. Their gestures turn devotion into a relationship: an acknowledgment of something sacred within and beyond ourselves. Teal and gold bring vitality and warmth to an image that holds celebration and contemplation together.

Jaya, album, 2022 • Chandra Lacombe • LISTEN

Cover of the single Mahamritjunjaya Mantra: Shiva's face in vivid colors on deep purple.

Beyond Duality

Dedicated to Shiva, Mahamritjunjaya Mantra contemplates mortality, attachment, and liberation. The third eye becomes a metaphor for seeing beyond appearances and the divisions through which we understand life. The illustration brings these tensions together around a still, frontal presence, surrounded by flames, flowing forms, and mirrored animals. Purple, orange, and turquoise sustain a balance between intensity and composure, inviting the eye to move through the image’s activity and return to the quiet presence at its heart.

Mahamritjunjaya Mantra, single, 2022 • Chandra Lacombe • LISTEN

Cover of the single Jaya Ganesha: a radiant Ganesha in blue, pink, and gold.

The Joy of Moving Forward

Jaya Ganesha approaches devotion through celebration, invoking the deity associated with beginnings, wisdom, and the removal of obstacles. Its uplifting rhythm finds a visual counterpart in a richly patterned composition centered on the elephant-headed figure. Symmetry gives the image stability, while curves and ornamental rhythms introduce movement, echoing the chant’s recurring phrases. Within the shared language of Jaya, the cover expresses confidence, generosity, and the joy of opening a path.

Jaya Ganesha, single, 2022 • Chandra Lacombe • LISTEN

Cover of the single Medicine Buddha: a serene Buddha face framed by a green and gold mandala.

A Space for Compassion

Medicine Buddha brings Buddhist devotion into conversation with musical influences from South American medicine traditions, finding common ground in compassion and care. The illustration approaches this encounter through a centered, balanced composition whose surrounding forms establish a rhythm that draws attention inward. Echoing the repetition of a mantra, its details invite sustained looking, allowing the image to accompany the music as a space for contemplation—a moment to consider suffering, our relationship with ourselves, and the possibility of responding with greater tenderness.

Medicine Buddha, single, 2022 • Chandra Lacombe • LISTEN

Cover of the single Shivaratri: Shiva dancing within a fiery circle on deep red.

Stillness Within Movement

In Shivaratri, devotion to Shiva takes the form of a song that Chandra describes as having arrived spontaneously. Its recurring invocation offers a point of return, a relationship sustained through voice, rhythm, and attention. The cover explores this coexistence of stillness and movement: a central presence anchors the composition while surrounding visual rhythms carry its energy outward. Within the ornamental language of the series, transformation becomes a continuous unfolding held around a quiet center.

Shivaratri, single, 2023 • Chandra Lacombe • LISTEN

The Art of Recognition

A greeting can hold an entire understanding of our relationship with others. Namaskar carries this spirit of acknowledgment and reverence into Chandra’s devotional universe, inviting an encounter in which listening itself becomes an act of recognition. One of the early chapters of our collaboration, the album opens a dialogue between sound, image, and the search for meaning: how to give visual expression to music that speaks from an intimate spiritual experience while welcoming others into a shared space.

Namaskar, album, 2012 • Chandra Lacombe • LISTEN

A Place for Devotion

Estação Bhakta suggests a place of arrival and passage, bringing the spiritual idea of devotion into the familiar experience of gathering, pausing, and moving on. This meeting between an inward journey and a shared place offers a way into Chandra’s musical universe, where different traditions and personal experiences converge through listening. As an early chapter of our collaboration, the album marks the beginning of a continuing inquiry into how this world of sound, spirituality, and human connection could find a visual presence.

Estação Bhakta, album, 2011 • Chandra Lacombe

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