Nitin Sawhney: London Undersound

Elly Roberts reviews

Nitin Sawhney: London UndersoundDistributed by
Positiv-Id/Cooking Vinyl

• Released: October 2008
• Rating: 10/10+
• Vote and comment on this album:View Comments

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Asian maestro’s thematic masterpiece.

Some years ago, Nitin Sawhney performed in Glastonbury’s BBC tent. His music and name stuck, though I’d never followed him up, until now. Why it took so long I’ll never know, so better late than ever.

On the liner notes, Nitin Sawhney declares, “This is an album of collaboration [each song is a collaboration bar one] to capture the London I know.” He goes on to say, “This is a collection of thoughts, ideas, feelings and catharsis in a city of immense diversity, imagination and beliefs “. He also believes London’s heartbeat has changed, and those collective impressions get a massive outpouring through a collection of hugely diverse styles, that are mightily impressive. To say that this is a unique and brilliant album is an under-statement.

From the opening Days Of Fire, Sawhney has you hooked, and little do you expect what lays ahead. Not only does he break the mould with classy songs, he’s also recruited a host of some pretty impressive musical chums, with Macca making a surprise appearance, giving London Underground, his eighth album, added kudos. If you’re seeking real eclecticism, then this wonderful album – one of the best this year – will surprise you on two counts: the range of music and the quality musicianship by a classically trained pianist and flamenco guitarist. It opens with Sawhney’s reflective thoughts on the 7/7 London bombings and the shooting of Brazilian Jean Charles De Menezes– Days Of Fire, which, apparently was witnessed by friend and co-contributor Natty.

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The spooky and haunting tube F/X lead to a kind of rap soon moving into a jaunty but lyrically worrying scenario, which has unquestionably brought paranoia to its residents. The next two – October Daze and Bring It Home keep the up-tempo pace with songbirds Tina Grace and Imogen Heap giving fine performances. Bring It Home has stylish and cool urbanized R&B / Jazz flavours which mix brilliantly. One of the stand out tracks is co-written with McCartney, texturised by some angelic backups by Reena Bhardwaj. If this was released as a single, it would be a big hit – because it’s gorgeous. Another gem amongst gems is jazzy epic Distant Dreams, featuring the dulcet tones of Roxanne Tataei.

Reflecting Sawhney’s Asian roots and fusing Latino colours is the sublime Shadowland later followed by a more indigenous Asian tinged Ek Jaan. Between Reena Bhardwaj’s sweet singing and Sawhney’s gentle by effective piano work, they’ve created a mesmerizing song.

Using a stylish dubstep frame, Last Train To Midnight, singer Aruba Red (Jack Bruce’s daughter Natasha) the track relates the fears she has as a woman moving on the tube at night. A lyrically minimalist song, it opens with “Journey no friend of mine,” perfectly capturing the sinister mood. The best track, for me, is the Asian rooted Charu Keshi Rain. A sitar, piano, choir and orchestra combine to create a sensational peaceful instrumental.

File under: Classic.

Weblinks:nitinsawhney.com /myspace.com/nitinsawhney /cookingvinyl.com

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The full list of tracks included are :

1. Days Of Fire ft. Natty
2. October Daze ft. Tina Grace
3. Bring It Home ft. Imogen Heap
4. Interlude 1 – Ghost Image
5. My Soul ft. Paul McCartney
6. Interlude 11 – Soledad
7. Distant Dreams ft. Roxanne Tataei
8. Interlude 111 – Street Sounds
9. Shadowland ft. Ojos de Brujo
10. Daybreak – ft. Faheem Mazhar
11. Interlude 1V – Identity
12. Ek Jaan – ft. Reena Bhardwaj
13. Transmission – ft. Tina Grace
14. Interlude V – Tension
15. Last Train To Midnight – ft. Aruba Red
16. Interlude V1 – Ronald Gray
17. Firmament
18. Charu Keshi Rain – ft. Anoushka Shankar View the discussion thread.blog comments powered by Disqus= 0) {query += ‘url’ + i + ‘=’ + encodeURIComponent(links[i].href) + ‘&’;}}document.write(”);})();//]]]]>]]>

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