This sophomore album by Iranian-Dutch artist Sevdaliza brings a completely new sound to avant-pop and tells a dystopian yet familiar story. Shabrang, released on August 28th, 2020, features 15 tracks all presenting the juxtaposition of comfort/discomfort, good/evil, love/hate, etc. that makes this album unique.
The mixture of classical piano and acoustic guitar melodies with futuristic uses of electronic production blends together to complete this contrast. On stripped-down songs like ‘Joanna’ Sevdaliza pours her heart out discussing the haunting liability of unrequited love. On songs like ‘Human Nature’, she uses her vocoded vocals to express the empowering spirituality that’s embedded in simply being. Both of these tracks cannot be categorized as stripped down or electronic because Sevdaliza clearly emphasized bringing the two together. ‘Human Nature’ was released in 2018 and the original audio is still on youtube, but on streaming services, the song now features a violin interlude towards the end of the song. This was probably done to create consistency in the album. Although I don’t think every song needed this contrast, I overall appreciated the combination especially on ‘Human Nature.’ It's probably my favorite track.
Iranian culture is often a topic of conversation in interviews with Sevdaliza and she is clearly proud of the musical impacts her culture has had on her. Recently on instagram, she made a post talking about her reactions to people accusing her of copying. One sentence that struck me was “My DNA breathes art.” This is similar to other statements she has made about her art and Iranian culture.
The word Shabrang is from Persian mythology. In an interview with Nylon Sevdaliza said she finds Farsi words to be naturally poetic and up to interpretation words. The choice for Shabrang to be the album title comes from both her connection to her Persian roots and the beautiful depth of Farsi. She also mentioned that “you can never capture that same richness [of the word shabrang] into english words, or even one english word.”
In an interview with FACTmagazine, when asked about her Iranian heritage, she mentioned that it only makes sense that Iranian art is getting the attention it deserves. I say all of this because it opened my eyes to how to talk about her use of melisma--the singing of many notes on one vowel and a prominent feature of Persian classical music--or her cover of Iranian singer-songwriter Googoosh’s 'Gole Bee Goldoon.'
I find when the west is presented with musical styles that are new to the west they categorize it as a new sound, coming from the American nationalism and euro-centrism that takes for granted the introduction to a culture and twists it into discovery. So I want to make it clear that what makes this album so unique is not the newness of Persian culture because Persian culture is obviously not new, but rather the artistry of what Sevdaliza chose to pair together to make her distinct sound.
Elements of ancient Persian music and storytelling, electronic beats, some R&B vocals, and the cryptic tone of the lyrics come together to provide an experience of transcendence during every listen. Being introduced to the music of a culture I know little about was a personal benefit that I thoroughly enjoyed!
What made this album something i’ll come back to rather than a nice one time listen was the way it encouraged visualization. At some moments the piano made me feel like I was in a James Bond movie and at other times the soft grit of her voice that makes every song sound like a live performance made me feel like I was in a ‘00s coming of age film. Overall, I ended up with various pictures in my head with elements of the real and extraterrestrial world.
After a couple listens, I was excited to see if she had any interesting music videos and the video for ‘Habibi’ did not disappoint. The visuals in this black and white music video share the same ethereal element that her sound does. The distinct angles and closeups allow for something very important to the multi-talented musician: interpretation. Based on the creativity of her album it’s no surprise that she wrote and directed the video alongside artist Anais Astan Meyer.
All in all, everything about what Sevdaliza makes from her music to her videos to her social media posts encourages critical thinking about spirituality. I’m thrilled to see what else she creates and if you're a lover of experimentalist art I highly recommend you stream Shabrang!
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