Karsh Kale – Cinema

[easyreview cat1title=”Cinema” cat1rating=”3″]

Karsh Kale is a weaver. His music tapestry includes multiple threads of sounds, samples, and melodic riffs he’s collated from his years of exploration in Western classical, Hindustani classical, rock and electronic and stitches together these disparate influences. His earlier album Realize and Liberation were products of Kale’s self-discovery of Hindustani classical and electronica.

In Cinema, his recently released album, Kale creates alluring atmospheres which bridge the gap between fantasy (electronica) and reality (melodies written on piano and guitar).

Kale attempts a form of surrealistic songwriting, where he explains, he dug into his childhood to recall all the songs he heard growing up and replicated the mood in Cinema. “Turnpike” is a tribute to the Turnpike road connecting New Jersey to New York where Kale made countless roadtrips that he recalls in the song with a trance-y reworking of “Zindagi Jab Bhi Teri” from Umrao Jaan, the song his father would play on their journeys. In the same vein, there is a distinct influence of Pink Floyd in the album opener “Island,” where Kale’s Autotuned vocals run across the dream-funk, ambient five-minute opener. 

The title song “Cinema,” sets the tone of the album. The song follows a dream-like reverie with mellow guitars and flute carrying off the melody that follows an odd time electro rhythm as the song progresses and gets more intense, backed by classical vocalist Vidhi Sharma.

Kale’s Cinema is an anthology of emotions that range from calm, indifferent (“Island,” “Avalance,” “Turnpike”) to dark, evoked (“Ma,” “Absence,” “Peekaboo”). The dubstep track “Ma,” follows a hooky vocal chorus sung by Kale’s daughter Milan Xai. Other guests on the album include vocalists Vishal Vaid, Papon, Shruti Pathak, Monica Dogra and Anne Rani, and of course Midival Punditz.

Key Tracks: “Ma,” “Cinema”