Naryan Padmanabha: Sadhu Stroll


Words By J-man

Naryan Padmanabha's sitar playing crosses many genres from traditional Indian music to psychedelic/experimental jazz. His solo album titled, Sadhu Stroll, explores a vast realm of musical style. The album opens with "Arriving at The Kush," sounding very much like Naryan's main project, Family Funktion & The Sitar Jams. The sounds are soothing yet somewhat menacing with Naryan digging into the music. One of the most noticeable traits of the music is Naryan's tonal quality and variation from traditional styles. The mood continues with "South India Express," a track that toys with the listener before the tablas enter the scene. The track ends with some major sustain on the sitar.

"Samsara" follows, taking the music to an even darker place than the first two tracks. The flow of the music is almost meditative and would be perfect for the accompaniment of any sort of yoga class or a massage. The title track, "Sadhu Stroll," is oddly placed at number four on the album. The song starts with some melodic tonal establishment. Resolution is far from the theme of this up and down composition until a few minutes deep when the Indian sounding drums take over. The bass enters to add a funky low line to the mix, creating a great groove. The song comes to a close with more delightful sustain and in a very different place from where the track began.

The energy changes direction with "Bhramaputra Float." The song shifts in tempo when the mood of the music becomes more intense. Much like it began, the song closes with the same, somewhat simplistic, progression. "Krsna" begins with a full spiritual sounding quality to the sitar. It makes me recall memories of Burning Man... I can feel the sun shining upon my face and the slight breeze teasing my desiring body in the hot desert. The song conjures up the purest of emotions and provides an escape from the stresses of the world. The closing track of the album, "Balaji," offers the listener clear resolve with a straight ahead groove and a danceable vibe. The track ends with some truly wild sounding tones.

I appreciate that Naryan makes the listener work for the comfortable material. You must first face the darker, uneasy songs before moving on to the more positive selections. The album, simply put is beautiful. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys pure music which evokes true emotion. Naryan was kind enough to make three selected tracks available for MusicMarauders readers to listen to in their entirety.

Click Here For Three Selected Tracks From Naryan...

www.naryanp.com

Comments

  1. Awesome pictures and tracks! I'm excited to play them during my massage sessions.
    -Carly

    ReplyDelete

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