I've been looking forward to the release of Immigrants for quite some time, and can't believe that it has been more than 20 years since Beyond Skin came out. I clearly remember buying the CD album, but apparently that would have been in 1999 ...
I've decided not to write about the whole album as I'm honestly not sure I'm up to the task. There's so much to it, and Sawhney is so much of a genius, that I don't feel I could fully do the album, or his work, justice. A bit of a cop out perhaps, but, hey, I'm doing this because I want to 😀
Instead I'm going to focus on the ninth track - Box. Having listened to it again just now, I've noticed it's under 3 minutes long. It feels like much longer (in a good way). I think that says a lot about this track in general - there is a lot to it. It's dense: packed with aural goodness.
The sound is typically crisp and beautiful. Like all of Sawhney's work, it feels well thought out, carefully crafted with absolute care and thought for every single sound. It's brilliantly produced in a way which supports the message of the song perfectly. Sawhney has created a very claustrophobic feel, both in the music and the mix. These are the touches which make his work stand out.
You may have noticed that I have a bit of a thing for darker sounding songs, and maybe that's why this one grabbed me. It opens with a guitar picking out a minor key arpeggio, before Gina Leonard's vocals join in - right near the front of the mix, flat, no reverb, and keeping to the minor chords. Then the production fills out a bit: there are touches of reverb, and more layers of guitar come in, building suspense and huge atmosphere. This, and the confident and yet slightly lazy vocals from Gina Leonard, remind me of the best bits of Massive Attack and Tricky.
Again, Sawhney manages to combine those darker beats and acoustic guitar (which, actually, somehow seamlessly becomes Spanish as the track progresses) with Indian vocals and scales, in a way which just ... works.
I know I chose just one of the tracks on Immigrants to write about, but I can't avoid mentioning the tenth track - You Are (featuring vocals from YVA) too, just because it follows so very well from Box. And also because it's a remarkable song in it's own right - I can't think of many others of this quality where the main vocal line is sung on a single note throughout, the harmonies and underpinning music providing the melodies. Further proof of Sawhney's genius. Have a listen if you've not already.