This album is yet another that I saw in a delete bin and was intrigued by, mostly because I noticed that there was a version of Prince's "Sometimes It Snows In April" on it. What I didn't expect was that it would be so eclectic and electronic. Amar Dhanjan is both British and Indian, and her songs are a mix of English and Hindi. The music behind them is generally downtempo and involves a lot of programming, samples and world beats, with some drum 'n' bass elements. The closest music I could compare it to would be Goldfrapp's first album Felt Mountain. Very ethereal and complex. The singles "Red Sky" and "Sometimes It Snows In April" (which was produced by the incredibly popular Guy Sigsworth) were both remixed into drum 'n' bass and UK garage versions and were underground successes. But Amar's music was obviously too left-of-centre to attract a big audience and she seemed to disappear. So I was surprised to discover that she is currently working with Timbaland on a new album! She appeared on Asian mixes of Nelly Furtado's "Maneater" and "Promiscuous", and from there Timbaland asked her to sing on the song "Bombay" off of his Shock Value album. This led to collaboration on her solo work, so expect her to release a new and much more popular album next year. It pays to make friends in high places!For the maxi-single of "Sometimes It Snows In April", go to my other blog HERE.
Download Outside
| 1 | The World | |
| 2 | Sometimes It Snows In April | |
| 3 | Claustrophobic | |
| 4 | Maybe | |
| 5 | Rain | |
| 6 | To An Alien Land | |
| 7 | Demons Win The Game | |
| 8 | Red Sky | |
| 9 | Another Tune | |
| 10 | Tere Bina | |
| 11 | After Sunset | |
| 12 | Morning |
I have the Hindi version of "The Power of Love" (popularized by Celine Dion) by a girl named Amar. It was used in Bend It Like Beckham, but wasn't on the soundtrack. Had to track it down. I wonder if it's the same Amar.
ReplyDelete