Under the name Sinkane, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, Ahmed Gallab has spent over a decade steadily building up a catalog that explores more than anything else his dueling affinities for '70s funk and Aro-pop. Complemented by veins of indie rock, jazz, psych, and reggae, his work has trended toward the biographical and at times, the philosophical. Raised for the most part in the U.S., his narrative bears the complexities of immigration; an African Muslim in origin, he was born in London, lived his early ...
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Under the name Sinkane, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, Ahmed Gallab has spent over a decade steadily building up a catalog that explores more than anything else his dueling affinities for '70s funk and Aro-pop. Complemented by veins of indie rock, jazz, psych, and reggae, his work has trended toward the biographical and at times, the philosophical. Raised for the most part in the U.S., his narrative bears the complexities of immigration; an African Muslim in origin, he was born in London, lived his early childhood in Sudan, and at the age of five settled with his family in the American Midwest. More so than on any of his previous Sinkane releases, 2019's Dépaysé delves deeply into Gallab's personal experience as an immigrant in an increasingly divided and discordant American era. The album's title is a French word referring to being "removed from one's habitual surroundings," which succinctly describes the feeling of cultural displacement he'd endured many times throughout his life. Ultimately more celebratory than cynical, Dépaysé begins on a defiantly optimistic note with the rousing funk of "Everybody" and its thematic partner "Everyone," a pair of inclusionary tracks praising unity through diversity. Elsewhere, Gallab comes to terms with what he refers to as his duality, merging his competing American and Sudanese cultures on the hard, circular grooves of "The Searching" and the colorful Afro-pop of "Ya Sudan." The title cut dramatically pairs serpentine wah-wah guitar leads with a cinematic East-African melody while alternating between English and Arabic lyrics that apparently came to him a dream. Ironically, it's Gallab's unfailingly straightforward vocal delivery that provides some of the biggest juxtapositions in his music: the rich palette of soulful musical styles he draws from is often at odds with his strangely plain American diction. Yet, the vivid tones of his African heritage transmuted through his Ohio upbringing are a major part of his story, and with his melting pot of styles, influences, and cultures, Sinkane sets out to prove that we can be many things at once and still find acceptance and love. ~ Timothy Monger, Rovi
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