Extremely mellow
and very song-focussed, Nitin Sawhney’s fifth release
is remarkably fresh. It takes from his past, but
crucially it builds for
his future.
The opening three songs in particular are very
striking for how much they depart from what is thought
to be his traditional, eastern-tinged sound. “Dead
Man”, the single, even goes so far as to sound like
a roots moment, complete with coolly intoned vocals
from Fink.
While the immediately preceding “Spark” and later
track “Void”, with vocals from Tina Grace (the latter
also features Jacob Golden), sounds not unlike Zero
7, “Dead Man” at least also includes the sort of
intonation from Jayanta Bose and Reena Bhardwaj that
we’ve come to expect from Sawhney creations. By comparison, “Journey” sounds
like a lite-jazz moment.
The problem with all Nitin Sawhney releases is
that they’re decidedly pleasant neo-world music that
is perfectly listenable but never altogether fresh,
exciting, new, or even all that original. There’s
been a bevy of artist pushing this barrow, and there’ll
be plenty more to come. Why? Because fundamentally
speaking it’s the sound of two cultures clashing,
much as M.I.A. is through a very different sight
line altogether. But there’s nothing all that original
on offer there either. Philtre is a good,
quality listen. But nothing more, nothing less.
