Sa
HopeStreet Recordings (39 mins)
Australian Punjabi singer Parvyn grew up among Sikh devotional music and trained in Hindustani classical music and dance. She began her career on stage with her father Dya Singh’s group, and moved on to be the lead singer of Melbourne’s psychedelic Bollywood big band The Bombay Royale. Now she strikes out on her own with a debut solo album.
Sa follows musical and lyrical ruminations on Parvyn’s past and future through mental health issues, parenthood and immigrant life, the music drawing from two main directions: Indian classical and jazz-angled R&B. Throughout the album, the proportions of these two influences shift one way and the other, but the music is always at its strongest when they balance each other out and Parvyn’s voice blends these two rather different vocal disciplines, such as on ‘Something 29’ and ‘Crossed the Line’. Aside from the intercultural vocal contortions, props also have to be given for some really satisfying production with meaty bass and restrained but effective use of synths and loops.
Sa is the first note of Indian sargam scale, and acts as the root, the beginning and the base: an appropriate name for a debut album that will hopefully stand as a sure footing for future work.