Various Artists

UK producer John Leckie’s much touted album with four Indian bands ”“ Indigo Children, Medusa, Swarathma and Advaita released ”“ released this month and the results are a little mixed. Album opener, Medusa’s ”˜Hill Top, bears no glaring difference when set against the band’s own recording expect for the fillers. Raxit Tiwari’s casual drawl rolls with the wavering guitar reverbs and thick bass loop while Leckie has filled in their sound with backing strings, which is probably the best part of the track. Medusa’s second track ”˜I Become I’ is the more uptempo number and while it has a nice earthy yet spacey feel, but Leckie does not realise any hidden potential in the Mumbai boys. Indigo Children’s fuzz-laden guitars have a very Eighties Brit-pop feel and there’re some fantastic hooks and licks in there but a lot of it, along with Malhar’s vocals, is lost in the overbearing arrangement of the drums and bass as it does on their second disco-pop number ”˜Irresistible.’ Swarathma and Advaita get a better mix mostly because of the semi-acoustic nature of their songs. Swarathma’s first track ”˜Jamba’ is typical of their style with Indian violin section, mixed percussion and Vasu’s Kannada vocals. ”˜Yeshu, Allah Aur Krishna’ which combines a sing-song narrative structure with a bright strummy guitar line is an easy crossover hit. Advaita brings their eclectic fushion on record with the sarangi, Indian classical vocals, and ambient atmospherics on ”˜Just Enough’ and ”˜Colourful’, though the tracks are low on recall value. There were a lot of expectations riding on the album but Leckie’s works no miracles on sound for these bands; he seems to have simply treated it like a job with little passion especially in the case of Medusa and Indigo Children.