- A luscious sound bath of modular synthesis and tranquil vocals that charts the Indian artist's inner quest for pleasure.
- Arushi Jain is a lot of things—a modular synthesist, singer, producer, composer, engineer. She is not an Indian classical musician. "It's not delivered in the way that it's supposed to be delivered, right? It's in this new form that I'm just making up," she once said of the music she produces. Still, Jain's distinguished vocal training and the cultural influences of her New Delhi upbringing hold a ubiquitous charm across her discography. In each work thus far, she's recontextualized ragas—traditionally defined Indian classical music archetypes that dictate the sonic framework for musical improvisations—as works of modular synthesis.
Most recently, she springboards off Raga Bageshri, an amorous, late-night raga typically reserved for the wistfulness of separated lovers dejected under moonbeams. On Delight, Jain reinterprets the age-old Indian classic into a voluptuous story of her existential inclination for pleasure. It's an elysian 44-minute sound bath of Hindi (and English) vocals, sprightly synths and rhapsodic bouts of classical guitar, cellos, marimba, flute and saxophone.
Opening track "Still Dreaming" sputters to life with babbling chirps that flourish into a tantalizing, gossamer dreamscape of synths and strings, with each of Jain's enveloping coos inducing deeper tranquility. While her singing has been an evolving element of her compositions since early releases like 2018's just a feeling, to being a focal point of 2021's Under The Lilac Sky, her omnipresent vocalising throughout Delight is a bravura performance of an artist who has finally found their voice.
"Exquisite Portraiture" is a sensational follow-up, embracing listeners in a silky cocoon of elongated hums and empowered affirmations—"I am exquisite." "Portal to Silver Linings" is a strong contender for the album's best track: her voice is buoyant and well-rounded, like a perfectly tossed skipping stone grazing between sea and sky. Programmed into synthesizer pads, a chorus of Jains swirl above heartwarming, modular tones.
On the aptly named "Play in the Void," Jain adorns her meditative droning with reverberating echoes—a red herring, as the placid tempo is usurped by undulating pulses that disintegrate into a meteor shower of twinkly notes. "Our Touching Tongues" picks up right where we left off, loopy and celestial, Jain teasing blippy utterations with bright chimes and a boomeranging melody, making for a whimsical, flirtatious peak of the album.
The album is a love letter to—you guessed it—delight. Where others may look to other sources for their sense of enjoyment, Jain looks within: her skillset, her heritage, her personality. "You Are Irresistible" sends listeners off with a blithe farewell, a dance-forward melody and the crux of her vision: "I'm delighted / filling the void that we feel with the dream of what could be."
Delight is a gratifying proposition that one's life can, and should be filled with pleasure, spontaneity, play, dreaming and self-actualising. In fact, it was a chance encounter with Stanford's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics that helped Jain discover her knack for producing this kind of music. That kind of serendipitous experience illustrates what she's instilling here—following the seeds of your interest, however small, to blossom the singularity of your voice. For Arushi Jain, spring has sprung.
Tracklist01. Still Dreaming
02. Exquisite Portraiture
03. I Surrender
04. Imagine An Orchestra
05. Play In The Void
06. Our Touching Tongues
07. Portal To Silver Linings
08. Infinite Delight
09. You Are Irresistible