I’m happy to come across such an all-around expertise the caliber of Anjali Ray. Her newest EP Darkish Aspect illustrates her lengthy creative attain incorporating numerous influences akin to jazz, Indian music, and, after all, underrated pop sensibilities that dovetail into the sooner strands with maybe shocking ease. Her distinctive confluence of sounds and the ensuing synthesis separates her from the pack, however her core abilities do as properly.

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She manifests an impressive fluency that transcends labels. Every of the EP’s six tracks seamlessly transitions from one mode to a different whereas retaining an general identifiable scheme. Ray sounds convincing in each function she adopts. “Go away Everybody Behind” casts her within the function of poetic folks singer/songwriter and she or he excels. The language powering this particular reduce is probably extra flowery than later tracks, however even essentially the most vital listener will concede she by no means permits issues to achieve overwrought ranges. She adorns the folks track texture with considered fills from electrical devices akin to guitar and keyboards although it nonetheless retains the aforementioned foundational character.

“California” steers Ray in a a lot totally different course – or so it appears. Peel again the colourful dynamics of this track, nonetheless, and strip it right down to its necessities, and also you’ll hear a track that embraces the identical aesthetic because the opener.

Ray applies a brand new coat of paint to this track’s design and the mock orchestration imbues the efficiency with classical music gravitas with out ever dropping sight of her pop music ambitions. “Apple of My Eye” ramps up the tempo significantly and I like the shifting of gears. The drum sound she will get for this quantity is sort of essential because it units an plain pulse that she rides with audibly impressed aptitude.

“Change”, nonetheless, finds Ray turning her songwriting in direction of far more grounded goals. She tackles this explicit track with an emphasis on on a regular basis language that we hear much less of in the course of the first two tracks. I’m particularly taken by the delicate vocals she offers for this efficiency. The finale “Center of the Night time” is well considered one of my favorites from Darkish Aspect. It amasses huge energy by way of a means of accumulation and I’m pleased to report that Ray stays as convincing as ever in a quasi-rock association. It has the texture of an actual curtain nearer reasonably than being arbitrarily slated on this slot. Ray’s work is constructed from the stuff lasting accomplishments possess.

Every of the six cuts included on this EP speaks to that high-flown sense of the attainable. She sings and writes from the center in an period when that high quality is at extra of a premium than ever earlier than. It’s a stellar addition to a rising physique of labor that expands its attain with every new outing. Anjali Ray’s Darkish Aspect offers with heavy, even thorny, matters, there’s little question, however it’s energetic’s spark reasonably than wallowing in abject despair. You’ll come away from these songs like I did – exhilarated and grateful for the expertise. And you’ll preserve coming again for extra. 

Mindy McCall