Nitin Sawhney - Prophesy DVD

Prophesy subtitles itself a "visual album" and that's a pretty accurate description. It consists of images shot in India, Australia, the USA, South Africa and England to accompany the tracks on Nitin Sawhney's fifth album, which was released in 2001. While not as universally praised as its predecessor, Beyond Skin, it still shows Nitin Sawhney to be an innovative songwriter and accomplished musician with an ability to mix and match musical styles from around the globe. This release marries images to the music while developing the album's underlying theme of the power... of technology. The visuals vary from the rapid juxtaposition of images à la Philip Glass' Koyaanisqatsi on tracks like "Sunset" to more straightforward performance pieces, such as "Ripping Out Tears", which includes a rap from Pinky Tuscadero over distorted guitars and beats. The mellower "Moonshine" features the work of dancer Akram Khan filmed at the Palace Theatre in London. On other tracks the images form a more coherent narrative, as in the reflective "Acquired Dreams", with vocals from Natacha Atlas. Sawhney's global political message about over-reliance on technology is forthrightly put, but in essence Prophesy is a collection of beautiful images which provide both a backdrop to the music and a comment upon it. On the DVD: in addition to the images there is also a "Talking Album", which is essentially a repetition of the album but with interviews from collaborators and influences incorporated. There's also a section entitled "Around the World" containing acoustic versions of "Sunset", "Prophesy" (three times!) and "Moonrise", plus a slide show photo gallery over the track "Breathing Light". The promo video for "Sunset" is also included. The picture quality is good, as is the sound and the whole package is well presented. --John Whiddett [show more]

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