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Ganavya: Like the Sky, I’ve Been Too Quiet review – ornate Tamil vocals, flutes and Floating Points
The latest album in an exciting wave of experimental north Indian classical music enlists Shabaka Hutchings and Leafcutter John in its downtempo quietude
Singer Arooj Aftab ’s delicate variations of Urdu poetry have provided the perfect accompaniment for ambient synth soundscapes and sweeping strings on 2021’s Vulture Prince and 2023’s , while US vocalist Sheherazaad’s 2024 debut Qasr found harmony in Hindi lyrics and finger-picked Spanish guitar. Producer Floating Points and multi-instrumentalist Leafcutter John provide eerie synth textures throughout, playing like a whisper of digital wind against Ganavya’s yearning vocals on Not in An Anthropological Mood, or twinkling through arpeggios that mirror her rhythmic sargam vocalisations – an ornamental method of singing the names of musical notes – on the expansive Seal. Countering the electronics are a range of flutes played by Kofi Flexxx, reflecting Ganavya’s breath in their earthy tones on tracks such as El Kebda, Let it Go, while Alina Bzhezhinska’s plaintive harp on Forgive Me My provides gorgeous ornamentation to long, looping vocal phrases.
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