New York, NY (Top40 Charts) With a new CD that mines an ethereal sound between electronica, fusion, indie pop, EDM and more, singer Sachal continues to expand his fan base with mainstream interviews via Rolling Stone India, AXS/Examiner, Vents Magazine and more. Four New York concerts are confirmed at The Living Room, with more dates to be announced soon, as this esoteric artist aims to build on the 300,000 Spotify listeners he's earned thus far.
Upcoming NY shows at The Living Room:
August 25 @ 8:00 PM
September 1 @ 9:00 PM
September 15 @ 8:00 PM
September 22 @ 8:00 PM
https://www.livingroomny.com/event/2015-08-25/sachal
AXS/EXAMINER - Interview Feature
By Laurie Fanelli, 7/2015
https://www.axs.com/news/interview-sachal-gives-insight-on-slow-motion-miracles-61543
Interview: Sachal gives insight on 'Slow Motion Miracles'
Throughout his career, singer Sachal (Sachal Vasandani) has gained a fantastic reputation for taking on new renditions of jazz standards with his lavish voice. Now, he is sharing even more of himself in the form of his first album of original material, Slow Motion Miracles, which was released via Sony
Music Entertainment earlier this year.
AXS got a chance to ask Sachal some questions about his past influences, present music and future aspirations in the ever evolving, undefinable genre which he is exploring.
AXS: Congratulations on Slow Motion Miracles. It's such a rich album and the songwriting is so complex, yet extremely listenable to casual music fans. What made 2015 the right time for you to release your first album of entirely original material?
Sachal: Thanks for the reflection, glad you hear it this way. It's also a great question. There is one cover, "Neither One of Us," but the album is largely original music. I write so many songs and sketches and orchestrations these days, I got around to adding them all up and it felt like a record. An album of casual songs that have a couple little complexities that unfold over the course of the record.
AXS: You have a history of creating jazz, but Slow Motion Miracles seems to build on that background to create something new. How would you describe your sound today?
Sachal: Love that way of putting it. You're always accepting, trying, building and never denying who you are. You build through your faults and you occasionally subvert your strengths. You run through problems and boundaries and you keep racing 'til you arrive at a clearing, and sometimes you just stop and sit and breathe and take it all in. When I got to that mental, musical clearing, I was like, "Well shit I better just record these songs now."
AXS: This album weaves a deep emotional tapestry. When approaching songwriting do you have a certain feeling in mind at the start of writing a composition or does that develop along with the music?
Sachal: Yes, sometimes it's just a feeling - Dance, Smile, Uplift, Tap Fat Fingers on a Large Desk, Skate Park, NW, Sunrise Getaway - Then comes a melody, then a beat or four bar pattern, then a melody fitting to a lyrical fragment, then another inspiration from a dream or a podcast or a train ride or something I had thought about a long time ago, then a voice memo, then a harmonic substitution and so on.
AXS: I understand that Michael Leonhart of "Uptown Funk" fame produced Slow Motion Miracles. How did that collaboration come about?
Sachal: I learned of Michael's producing work through his records, introduced to me by my friend, Sue Edwards. Later, a common composer friend, Paul Brill, suggested we work together, kindred spirits and such. So, I brought my laptop by Michael's and played him my version of "Can't Talk." And that's how it began.
AXS: Do you have any favorite songs to perform live? What are some of your favorite original pieces and jazz standards?
Sachal: Singing "Cover the Water" is challenging but if I do it right, I can soar with it. These days I misappropriate covers by friends and other current artists, put them through my chimney. We do a cover of "
Dreams" by The
Cranberries which is wide open. And I've found singing "
In Your Eyes" by
Peter Gabriel, and a new song, "Death with Dignity" by Sufjan
Stevens , to be a sort of therapy. My favorite standards - the ones I wake up singing the changes or lyrics to - right now are "Autumn Leaves," "Four," "No Blues." Can you tell I've been listening to Miles at the Olympia?
AXS: You've shared a stage with so many amazing musicians, from
Wynton Marsalis to
Chris Botti to Joan Osborne. What did you take away from those experiences?
Sachal: Collaboration and even just warming up the crowd for the main act is all branches of the main tree - performing my songs or ones I've picked to share with people - on a stage. Some artists are great musicians, have great presence, are generous and kind. Other artists have some of these elements but are sorely lacking in others. I get to observe a lot. It's the best education.
AXS: How does your Indian background and
Chicago upbringing play into your songs and who you are as a musician?
Sachal: The main thing about being my kind of Indian and also a midwestern kid is that there are a lot of forces within me that compel me to play nice with people. Not all of those people deserved to be treated nice. Still, karma. The other thing is family is important and I'm blessed to have a loving, supportive family.
AXS: You started in jazz and your music has evolved into an almost undefinable fusion of the best of pop, electronic and jazz. Where do you see your sound heading in the coming years?
Sachal: Thank you, thank you... Over time... let's put some words to the genre we're defining. I'll just continue to be true to the path and do my thing and write a lot more songs and sing even more than I write. For now it's a thrill to sing some of these songs out in the world and see people responding to them and even singing along.
AXS: Do you have any other projects or thoughts that you would like to share with AXS readers?
Sachal: Besides a couple new musical projects - there's a classical influenced trio and a big band thing and some new folk songs. Got some non-linear projects like writing and video I'm getting into, just some new things that resonate beyond the circle of music I've lived in... more on that soon.
VENTS MAGAZINE - Interview feature
By R.J. Frometa, 6/2015 https://ventsmagazine.com/interview-sachal/
Hi Sachal, welcome to VENTS! How have you been?
Hi, been feeling great. Our new record is out and traveling the universe. It means different things to different people. It's exciting.
Can you tell us more about the back-story behind your song 'Marie'?
Sure. There's a point where you reach the edge of town and the speed limit goes from 30 to like 60 or more, and you keep driving. And there's someone riding shotgun who you love a ton, so much that you can just speed in silence and not feel any urge to make small talk. And you keep racing on, with this person , wind in your hair.
And whatever had been bugging the two of you, flaws or fights, starts to be less important, and as you get way out there, a lot less important.
So that's what Marie is about , just letting the travel and the adventure and the bigness of the sky seep in and heal your relationship.
The track comes off your new album Slow Motion Miracles - what's the story behind the title? Well, there are a lot of stories that feed into the title - cause when I realized what a gift it was to travel this earth, and sing, and meet and love people, and get a text from my mom telling me to check out TV on the Radio, I began to feel another level of contentment. So that even ordinary days have some miracles that I'm excited by, that I'm thankful for.
Where did you find your inspiration for these songs/How was the recording and writing process?
The inspiration started with my feeling great about life and love and not wanting to wait to share that .
I would write down a lyric idea or maybe a melody and come back to it , guiding it through harmony and rhythm. I left a lot behind . I brought sketches with sounds I found and loved to Michael and then over six months we arranged it some more and recorded my voice along with the musicians. They're all friends and profound talents. Many of them had played some of the material before. So it was easy to get them to vibe with the ideas .
You're known for blending different genres together - how did you come up with the idea of doing this?
When the lyrics were taking shape , I realized they had their heritage in older lyrics from the standards id been singing, but also blended some modern poetry I was reading and some of the modern singing I was hearing from current bands and artists in different genres . as the music was coming together, I was like "why we try to honor that same mix in the sound of the record?"
Do you try to blend genres together for every single, or do you add layers of a specific music style depending on the song's mood?
Well it's not so grand as blending genres on every tune. For a given lyric , or vibe , I'm just drawing a little bit here, a bit there, heating it up, creating a potion. There are familiar elements but yeah, hopefully what comes out of the cauldron is something slightly transformed.
What was like to work with Michael Leonhart and how did that relationship develop? Michael Leonhart was recommended to me independently my friends , including the manager Sue Edwards , and the composer Paul Brill. I played him a sample of one of the songs and he got it. he got where I was coming from and where I was going- and when we got down to working that understanding between us guided the whole process.
How much would you say Michael influenced this album's sound?
He definitely added a lot to the proceedings. I had a blueprint and some other guidelines but he helped me build the house.
Will you be hitting the road this year? Definitely- as much as you all will have me. My favorite place in the world is one stage . Especially now, with new music to share.
What else is happening next in Sachal's world? A lot of writing new music, studying other's music, poetry and art. It will take a lot of drafts and collaborations and bad ideas to come up with the sketches for my next record.
From the self-assured 'Marie', perhaps evocative of early John Meyer, to 'Afternoon Sun' and its
Dave Matthews Band vibe, to 'Cover the Water', with vocals that recall
Coldplay and Maroon 5, to the dreamy 'No More Tears', Sachal's OKeh/Sony 'Slow Motion Miracles' release has earned terrific reviews for its eclectic sound. It was produced by Grammy Winner Michael Leonhart of Steely Dan/Bruno Mars 'Uptown Funk' fame, and marks a turning point in the burgeoning career of the singer/composer.
Rolling Stone commented, "The new 10-track collection…is a meet-and-greet between jazz and its distant, motley family, like electronica, Afrobeat, pop and hip-hop. Its emotional landscape touches the themes of abandonment, self-doubt, and coming to terms with change that has not been good. What is most remarkable about Vasandani's music is his uncomplicated vocal style, which reminds the listener that expressions of pain, angst and loss are perhaps most impactful when you don't make a big fuss about those emotions."
For Sachal, an Indian-American who grew up in Chicago, the new album is no less than a career milestone - a moment in which he has made a conscious shift from the overt jazz stylings of his prior releases to a more minimalist, experimental approach to instrumentation and content. Jazz press has offered praise, with JazzWise Magazine describing the album as "profoundly beautiful" (see more of the JazzWise review, below).
ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE, INDIA - Full article
By Nirmika Singh, 5/19/2015?? READ IT HERE:??? https://rollingstoneindia.com/sachal-vasandani/
Sachal Vasandani: 'I don't have a fogey bone in my body' -
The Indian-American jazz singer says his newly released fourth album, Slow Motion Miracles, is his biggest music milestone
A young musician who presents jazz mostly in its unadulterated form [read no electronica overdose] is susceptible to losing the interest of potential fans under 40, or 60 even. But singer Sachal Vasandani doesn't seem to mind the risk, and he is quick to tell you that he is anything but old-fashioned. Says the 37-year-old singer, "I don't have a fogey bone in my body, except the kneecap on my right leg. I'm youth till I die, folks."
An Indian-American who grew up in Chicago, Vasandani found early success when he was named the Jazz Vocalist of the Year by Down Beat magazine in 1999. As a child, he listened to a wide variety of music including Hindustani classical. It helped, of course, that he had jazz-lovers for parents and lived in a city famous for its vibrant jazz bars. Slow Motion Miracles is his latest album, which he considered his biggest music milestone. "It's vulnerable and uplifting and big," he says. His previous albums - Hi-Fly, 2011; We Move, 2009 and Eyes Wide Open; 2007 - had featured a mix of his favourite jazz standards and pop covers along with a few originals. The new 10-track collection, on the other hand, is a meet-and-greet between jazz and its distant, motley family, like electronica, Afrobeat, pop and hip-hop. Its emotional landscape touches the themes of abandonment, self-doubt, and coming to terms with change that has not been good.
What is most remarkable about Vasandani's music is his uncomplicated vocal style, which reminds the listener that expressions of pain, angst and loss are perhaps most impactful when you don't make a big fuss about those emotions. Says the singer and composer, "A lot of these songs got their start in wanting to document some of my shenanigans at home in New York or on the road. (I) made some discoveries about how to love and live fully in the moment," says the singer-composer.
The singer says that getting "way into the music I hear and especially the music I make - this is what keeps me going, and young and silly." On Slow Motion Miracles, he has indeed gone way into the music he loves. And at times, with musicians he loves. On the soothing "Afternoon sun," you can hear Grammy Award-nominated young pianist Taylor Eigsti lending his charm. Vasandani jokes about how he pitched the song to Eigsti: "Can you imagine saying to him - 'I'm thinking about staring out at the end of the earth at this part…Got anything?' And watch and listen as he conjures up the perfect tapestry on the organ in that exact moment." The upbeat and fresh, "
Marie" is a co-composition with friend and songwriter
David Brophy.
The album has been produced by noted trumpeter and Grammy recipient, Michael Leonhart, who has worked with the likes of
Steely Dan and
Bobby McFerrin. "One fun thing in the recording session was bringing Normyn, Michael's dog, to the studio when we were recording bass and drums. That was the first time I'd ever been around a dog at the studio, but she'd been there many times…she was a laugh and helped to lighten the whole vibe," he remembers. Leonhart also co-wrote the buoyant "Cover the water," the song that fetched Vasandani the most heart-warming comment he's got from a fan on the new record. "I received this tweet yesterday: "Cover The Water gives me life," he shares.
Vasandani is not new to the Indian music scene; he performed here in 2013. Does he plan to return soon? "I can't wait to get to India. The last time I was there the audiences in Mumbai and Delhi and Pune were so warm and receptive. And we had great food and none of my band got sick, and I saw some family and we had a ball." Meanwhile, he is also thinking about making a plan for giving shape to all kinds of ideas that are still in his head. "Different styles: big band, duos, me and a guitar on a beach somewhere, soundscapes that no one's ever heard and only live in dreams."
More from the JazzWise Magazine four-star review: ?"Slow Motion Miracles references everything from pop to hip-hop to electronica, with a much greater emphasis placed on experimenting with new timbral and textural possibilities. The velvet-toned, crystal clear voice remains. The New York based vocalist, keyboardist and songwriter writes (or co-writes) eight of the album's 10 songs, often with profoundly beautiful results. In the company of producer Michael Leonhart, keys player Taylor Eigsti and drummer Mark Guiliana, the minimalist, almost tabla-like pulse and soaring, ecstatic chorus of 'Cover The Water' is a stand-out, tapping into the kind of wide-eyed wonder that subtly threads its way through much of the album. Transporting the listener to the protagonist's dreamlike state, the gear-changing arrangement of 'Haystacks' illustrates Sachal's gift for writing chorus hooks that resonate powerfully. To hear Sachal's elegiac insight at its most subtle, head straight for the unadorned simplicity of Jim Weatherly's 'Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye)'.
https://aiartists.com/sachal
https://www.sachalsings.com
