Ahead of Chapter II: How Dark It Is Before Dawn, the keenly anticipated second album in sitar player Anoushka Shankar‘s mini-LP trilogy, the much-garlanded London-born Indian musician releases a taster track, ‘New Dawn,’ on 23 February. With jangly sitar notes floating above soft clouds of synth chords and pulsating Phillip Glass-esque polyphony, the track’s ambient tone is indicative of the parent album, which was recorded in LA with the British composer and producer Peter Raeburn.
Chapter II: How Dark It Is Before Dawn, shows Shankar – daughter of the pioneering sitarist Ravi Shankar, who inspired The Beatles among others – reframing the sitar in a new musical context. “Pete and I met before the pandemic when he was saying he’d love to play with that sound world, a sonically immersive space that can invite a listener in more,” says Shankar, explaining the concept behind her collaboration with Raeburn. “He wanted to give me the opportunity to be able to play whilst hearing what my instrument can do, using manipulation, reverbs and effects, but for me to be able to actually write to that. It’s like playing a new instrument.”
Chapter II: How Dark it Is Before Dawn will be released on 5th April 2024, with Shankar due to perform at London’s Barbican venue a day later.
‘New Dawn’ is released today via LEITER Records and can be listened to HERE
