Desert Songs: Memories of Rumi

Born to a Turkish-Algerian father and an Austrian-Polish mother, adopted at birth by a Jewish family in North London and classically trained at the Royal Academy, singer and composer Esbe has made a debut album full of bold and dramatic arrangements that seek to fuse every aspect of her complex make-up and multifaceted upbringing. Taking the verses of Rumi and other Middle Eastern poets as her text, her music is as eclectic as her roots. Western conservatoire classicism combines with Eastern scales and medieval madrigal meets Persian ghazal. The lush symphonic tones of an acoustic string ensemble sit seamlessly alongside ambient electronica and digital sampling. Esbe's own acoustic guitar work has a stately elegance and her soaring voice contains echoes of Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins, Lisa Gerrard of Dead Can Dance, Natacha Atlas and Sheila Chandra. The ethereal, gossamer beauty of ‘Your Promise’ contrasts with the rhythmic Oriental thrust of ‘Seek’ and the epic ‘Buthaina’ shifts from hauntingly cinematic desert soundscapes to swelling Gothic melodrama and back again. Debuts don't come much more ambitious than this and, for the most part, Esbe pulls it off with impressive style.