Outcaste Records
2000
Signs
About This Album
While Badmarsh & Shri have obviously been inspired by Bristolians Massive Attack and Portishead, they're far from imitators, although you'd be forgiven for thinking so if you listened to the opening title track to Signs, where they remake the reggae track "Lots of Sign" in a darkly moody fashion that's directly out of the Massive Attack songbook. A few cuts later they go all Portishead, with folksinger Kathryn Williams guesting on a weary vocal for "Day by Day." But there's a lot more going on, although it takes a little while to get there -- you have to get past the awful poetry of "Swarm," which conjures up the image of '60s Moody Blues albums gone techno, and the goes-nowhere rhythmic workout of "Get Up." However, "Soaring Beyond," a piece for flute and acoustic guitar, both played by Shri, marks a new start, leading into the excellent "Sajanna," where the brooding Strings of Bombay (who appear on most of the rest of the album) play around a lush garden of earthly delights. Sanjogita Kumari's vocal has a lovely, unearthly quality. It's a signal that the album is looking east, filling with the kind of rich melodies that would do A.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,7,8 and 9)

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