SHEHERAZAAD

Erased Tapes' newest signing, Sheherazaad, adds her contemporary folk-pop synthesis, produced by Arooj Aftab, to the new wave of South Asian diasporic soundscapes.

Working long-distance from separate coasts during the pandemic, the pair got to work on 'Qasr'. The collaboration would culminate in the heart of Brooklyn at the Glass Wall studio, during late-night, feverish recording sessions and utilising a groundbreaking cast of international musicianship, including Basma Edrees (Egypt), Gilbert Mansour (Lebanon), and Firas Zreik (Palestine); mastered by Heba Kadry (Björk, Ryuichi Sakamoto). And so, on 'Qasr', Sheherazaad gives us a beguiling new soundscape, not yet of this world. But she also stokes the flame of fantasies inherent to the nomadic experience, which may finally be brought to the fore. Overall, the bewitching album finds an artist building her own fortress, while enticing us to forge our own castles, musical queendoms, and impossible dreamlands.