The clouds above Karachi, Pakistan saunter with a foggy sigh as they coat the city in pastel. The latest from songwriter, producer, and songstress Slowspin features her unwrapping a few delicate, glowing arrangements with defiant grace. Unfurls, which was released right before the new year, managed to slip under my radar until now. But, if you’re as enraged as me to find American DJs mistaking musical capitalism as a gesture of cross-cultural allyship, perhaps a closer eye toward the hardworking Pakistani underground is more timely than ever.
Sonic luxury is given special attention by Slowspin in Unfurls. Each plucked string, struck key, and whispered note assumes a magnetic identity of its own — the pillowy synthesizers that usher in “left for right” and “blessings,” despite their apparent artificiality, appear to the unwitting listener as kindred spirits to the jangly arpeggios of “clues.” Each sound is a memory. Slowspin’s vocals — as understated as they are — have a blissful, retro-filmy texture, ideal for piecing together each painterly transition from one passage to another. A succinct statement in the transcendental wonders of making music behind closed doors and open windows.
More about: Slowspin
