New Monuments

You'd have to be some kind of impercipient not to realize, halfway through the first track, that this is protest music made by musicians who are familiar with the activity and comfortable with expressing their discontent. When Kidambi starts in with her litany of sarcastic "you don't belong here" type commentary, it's clear that she is not only criticizing bigotry and xenophobia but is also asking questions about belonging. About identity. About the spaces we inhabit and how we claim them through understanding ourselves, our communities, and our histories.

What follows is the creation of improvisational spaces analogous to the expression of community voices free from the strictures of hierarchy. What starts as protest descends (ascends?) into noise, but the noise has meaning, purpose. It is the sound of old monuments being demolished, and what follows, quite jarringly, are several minutes of a rising harmony led by the cello. A time of calm. A new beginning.

Kidambi's vocals, never following any melody the mind can hold onto, demands attention from the listener. Something weird is happening. She's singing in her weird way again, you might think. I should probably actually listen to what she's singing/saying. Or maybe this kind of jazz is just pretentious twaddle to you. I know plenty of people who'd roll their eyes at what unfolds here. And that's okay. Dislike it. Feel uncomfortable or annoyed. That's the whole point.