Sinkane - Color Voice

If you know Sinkane’s Ahmed Gallab from his stints in hardcore bands, you’re going to have to wipe the slate clean, because that’s what this Columbus musician did for his new project. To even put Sinkane’s debut, Color Voice, in the broad, all-encompassing “rock” category might be a stretch.

Coming in at just over 30 minutes, the album is best thought of as one long composition divided into four seamless movements that retain a similar fluidity but integrate different themes and soundscapes. Sound ambitious? It is, but with Gallab as the multi-instrumentalist architect, Sinkane has created a genre-bending piece so fresh you’ll happily start all over again when the last looped notes fade away.

Columbus recently got a taste of Sinkane at a Wexner Center show with Caribou, a band Gallab recently started touring with as its replacement drummer. It’s a big break for Gallab, and it’s also a natural fit--Sinkane is like Caribou’s weirder, quieter little brother.

Sinkane’s stuff is also significantly less structured. Opener “Thick Device” is the most ethereal of the four tracks, setting the mood and establishing the fluent feel of the record with keyboard loops and backward guitar riffs wending their way in and out. The drums (Gallab’s forte) make their first appearance on “Color Voice,” still a mellow affair until the horns kick in and meld into a jazzy freak-out with dueling tenor saxes on top of a repeating brass melody.

“Autobahn” is the centerpiece of the composition, the primary movement. Not coincidentally, it’s also the only track with words, which find Gallab “singing in my head, singing all alone.” It’s the most compelling track, the added layer of woodwinds giving the song a weightless quality despite the lonesome vocals.

Any world music influences don’t appear until the last track, “Drumps.” (Gallab gets those influences honestly--he’s the son of a freedom-fighter journalist/politician who fled Sudan with his family when Gallab was six.) The song opens with a vaguely tribal feel that’s gradually overtaken by Gallab pounding away on a drum set. The sax and loops again take front stage before the song erupts into a full-on drum onslaught, then “Drumps” slowly, delicately fades away as you recover from the explosion.

It’s nice to hear songs with so much open space. Still, I wouldn’t mind a little tightening and editing here and there on future releases. And perhaps some more tunes, too; this debut feels more like a teaser of what’s to come, a handshake without the full introduction. But first impressions are key, and this is a good one that has me excited for what Gallab has in store.

mp3: Sinkane - Color Voice
mp3: Sinkane - Autobahn
mp3: Sinkane's live perfomance at the Wexner Center