About

In order to trace the unlikely connection between the Pakistani-born, New York-based singer-songwriter Ali Sethi and Chilean electronic producer Nicolas Jaar, you'd have to go back eight years ago to a London shopping mall. Sethi heard Jaar's music playing and instantly recognised Hindustani sensibilities in his melodic motifs and prickly percussion. Chance would have it that Sethi heard Jaar again on a rooftop in Lahore, and then another time in Istanbul. It became impossible to ignore fate's call. Sethi hit the studio and began singing in Urdu over splices of Telas, Jaar's most recent solo release at the time. Through a mutual connection, Jaar received the snippets and was impressed, asking Sethi in a subsequent email, "Why don't you do more of what you did in this fragment I just heard using whatever you find interesting from Telas?" Speaking to Pitchfork about his approach to collaboration, Sethi said, "I just have this undying need to recontextualise things and make unlikely connections."

It's a sentiment shared by Jaar, who recently assembled guest musicians from around the world for two improvised avant-garde albums. It seems fitting then, that the stars aligned and the two eventually crossed paths. The result is Intiha, where over the course of 36 minutes, Sethi breathes new life into both Jaar's music and the historic writings of Sufi mystics. — (via Resident Advisor)

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Label: Other People (OP073)
Format: Vinyl
Country: USA & Europe
Released: 2023
Genre: Electronic, Pop
Style: Synth-pop, Experimental, Abstract
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