Under the Lilac Sky

Arushi Jain is an Indian-born, classically-trained Hindustani singer. She is also a Brooklyn-based modular synthesizer enthusiast. Using these two powerful and personal instruments, Jain’s Under the Lilac Sky is a beautiful ambient marriage of her two homes. Just as ragas are entwined with a specific time of day or year, this is an album of sunsets. Everything here is consciously liminal: between day and night; between India, the US and somewhere imaginary; between melody, timbre and texture; between voice and synth. Jain’s music is all of them and none of them.

There are no beats here. The whole album feels like an extended alap. Various organic and electronic voices discover sonic possibilities conjured up by complex drones, and in doing so, build vast mystical soundscapes. The mood is always calm, although it treads a strange line between comforting and unsettling, always in the most evocative way. Echoes of Sheila Chandra bloom throughout as layers of silken sargam overlap upon low, raspy bass – there is a definite retro vibe but one that is distinctly rooted in the 2020s. It could all very easily have tipped into the perilous realm of New Age, but instead, Jain has made a very impressive album – the perfect soundtrack to a warm, perfumed breeze at sunset.