Human is a passable entry in the realm of coffee table trip-hop.
Nitin Sawhney presents the album as the third piece in a trilogy of concept albums.
Beyond Skin got things off to a wonderful start with its thrilling mix of exotic world music and lush electronics, and
Prophesy was hampered by a pretentious concept and lackluster songs.
Human is merely forgettable; it's inoffensive and, in small passages, quite beautiful, but it simply treads familiar ground and suffers from weak songwriting. The concept this time supposedly involves loads of introspection, and according to
Sawhney, its themes were inspired by
William Blake. Maybe such a premise would be good for a college thesis, but in execution here it merely feels tired and a bit contrived. The best thing that
Human has going for it is that
Sawhney has chosen some wonderful vocalists to give voice to his message. Indeed,
Sawhney's collaborators far outshine his patchwork beats and barely-there melodies.
Tina Grace, an aural dead ringer for
Lisa Germano, provides some of the album's finest moments. Her tender tones on "Say Hello" bring to mind
Jane Siberry's wonderful "Calling All Angels," though
Sawhney nearly ruins the mood with an operatic Indian voice wailing in the background near the song's conclusion. Known for his cultural fusion,
Sawhney stretches the conceit perhaps too far on
Human.
Sawhney's attempt to mix Indian and English voices is at least more successful on "Fragile Wind," where
Grace and
Jayanta Bose prove to be wonderful foils in their call and response, as well as in their harmonizing.
Jacob Golden and the honey-voiced Reena Bhardwaj are an equally sublime mix on "Falling Angels," which sounds remarkably like
Aimee Mann fronting
Alpha. Outside these songs,
Sawhney stumbles musically, offering lethargic sound collages, bland techno raves, vainglorious out-of-place samples of
Martin Luther King Jr. and Margaret Thatcher, and lyrics that only a mother could love. A particularly cringe-worthy passage from "Waiting (O Mistress Mine)" unfolds as, "what is love, tis not hereafter, present mirth hath present laughter, what's to come, still unsure."
Sawhney has proven himself a better songwriter in the past, but
Human is weighed down by many of the same faults as
Prophesy. One can't help but wonder if either
Sawhney or V2 rushed this album to its release, or if
Sawhney is resting on his laurels. ~ Tim DiGravina