Nitin Sawhney 'London Undersound' (Cooking Vinyl) Released 13/10/08

Starting with ‘Days’ Of Fire’, ‘London Undersound’ is a full-frontal state of the nation address on life in the capital city of London, and how the bombings of 07.07.2005 and the shooting of Charles De Menezes have resulted in a London whose heartbeat has changed, to Nitin Sawhney, in a subliminal and insidious way. It’s a track written by Sawhney alongside Natty, who by co-incidence was there at both events. Featuring a who’s who of collaborators, ‘London Undersound’ harks back to the scope of Sawhney’s 1999 Mercury nominated album, ‘Beyond Skin’, broadening his church to find articulation, spirituality, and a common language amidst pan-global diversity as well as the melting-pot of his home in London.

‘Days Of Fire’ serves to frame the album of a London changed by the fear of terrorism, as Natty delivers loose rap verse addressing emotions of shock to shimmering train-glide guitar melody, Natty - “…on these streets where I played/ and on these trains that I take/ I saw fire…”, while ‘October Daze’ is a delicious piece of orchestral pop à la Saint Etienne with a dreamy lilt from Brazilian/Spanish vocalist Tina Grace. The immediately likeable ‘Distant Dreams’ adopts a batucada rhythm with earthy standing bass and cool jazz London-soul vocals from Roxanne Tatei, replete with Winehouse shadings, singing “…distant dreams/ as I fall out of time…“ on one of those multi-purpose tracks that’ll gather attention, while a deep dub template is adopted for ‘Last Train To Midnight’ with a Leftfield-esque groove and Aruba Red’s vocal capped with Indian ethereality.

‘Bring It Home’ takes a drum and bass tangent where 6/8 free-style jazz beats gather pace as Imogen Heap’s mantric refrain holds the centre ground, singing “…ohhhhh we’re in this together/ equal and opposite…” yet tiring out, whereas ‘Transmission’ comes wrapped in a dark dystopian Bristol trip-hop world, a serious song underlying as notions of disconnection and commercial über-reality from vacuous radio show guff gather a disconcerting impact, Tina Grace drawling with a resonant somnambulism - “…feel the sunshine, from the radio…hear the punch line, on the radio…smokescreen dreaming…cloud my hearing…empty promise, lying, faking…”, it’s what John Pilger describes as ‘weapons of mass distraction’, a mugging by commercialism - so put that on your toast and munch.

An interlude with Paul McCartney finds expression to the disgust with the paparazzi he feels, intruding on privacy unknowingly, equating their trade with the African notion that a photograph can steal your soul, and then goes on to contribute a sugary and nasal-sounding track, ‘My Soul’, an Indian current in ethereal female vocals fluttering above what is a at heart a cheesy nugget of a love song, rich yet lacking in impact with hackneyed expressions of heart and soul. An Indian modern classicism infuses ‘Shadowland’, ’Ek Kaan’ and ‘Daybreak’, the former with flamenco guitar and instrumentation from the Barcelona troupe, Ojos De Brujo, where Indian vocal scales meet with scratch decks to daydreamy effects, the latter with the African kora and Pakistani singer Faheem Mazhar finding expression of the early morning, fresh as the morning dew from Mazhar’s butterfly-like vocal agility.

To close, Sawhney adopts his classical structures on probably the finest piece, ‘Firmament’, where his classical flamenco guitar playing meets cello and gossamer threads from flautist Ashwin Srinavasin - it’s one of those ultra-fine John Williams-esque lamentations that speak the universal language of music (think 'Cavatina', The Deer Hunter theme), while the traditional raag ’Charu Keshi Rain’ features Ravi Shankar’s daughter, Anoushka, on sitar, with strings by the Urban Soul Orchestra  - fittingly ending such a multi-cultural undertaking. Eight album's under his belt, there's no doubting Sawhney's breadth and experience - his mantle piece must be groaning, after-all he's the only artist to be invited to appear at both the BBC Electric Proms and the stuffy pompous one. And there's no pretentiousness, just humility. It's like 1 Giant Leap's globetrotting, done here in your backyard. No longer the sound of Outcaste and the Asian Underground, Sawhney has garnered a zeitgeist defining album from the talent at his disposal that finds a common humanity and spirituality.