By: Staff
Boston area-based rock band The Singhs released its new album Science Fiction on June 4 through Redstar Entertainment [digital, CD and vinyl]. Featuring 12 original songs, Science Fiction was produced by legendary Grammy-winning music producer Tony Visconti (David Bowie, T. Rex, Moody Blues, Morrissey, Thin Lizzy, Paul McCartney, Angelique Kidjo, John Hiatt, etc.).
The making of the album overlapped with Visconti’s production of David Bowie’s latest, The Next Day. Concurrent with the launch of Science Fiction, The Singhs and Redstar will release a free iPad app with a video game-like navigational interface t that acts as a portal to content from the band, including, photos, videos, and streamed live performances.
Content in the app is not static, and will be kept current by the band in an “episodic” fashion, with new music and videos appearing as updates. The app operates on iPad 2 and later versions, and will also serve as a testing ground for new methods of distributing music. It is intended to be not just a gateway for Science Fiction, but to the Singhs in general.
Watch the music video for the song “Hey” here.
“The Singhs are super musicians and their songs were a joy to record,” says Visconti. “Their fertile imaginations and the relaxed atmosphere at Q Division Studios were a magical combination. I am extremely proud of the progressive music we have created together.”
Throughout, Science Fiction’s sound is an atmospheric and richly textured aural environment that reflects Visconti’s touch, and spotlights The Singhs’ dynamic musical interplay. It was tracked primarily at Q Division Studios, which has a more than 25-year history at the center of the Boston area’s music scene (it relocated to Somerville in 2000), with clients including Aimee Mann, James Taylor, Graham Parker, Morphine, and many more.
The album was recorded through vintage analog boards onto ProTools, and then mixed back to analog tapes that were used for mastering by the late George Marino at Sterling Sound in NYC. Science Fiction’s engineering team also includes Ducky Carlisle, who recently won a Grammy for Buddy Guy’s 2012 release Living Proof.
“We had wanted to work with Tony for some time,” said The Singhs’ principal singer-songwriter Jeet Singh, who founded the band in 2001 with acclaimed Boston-based guitarist Peter Parcek. “It was a thrill that it came together for Science Fiction. We initially did a few sessions in New York City, and then we introduced Tony to Q Division. He really liked it, and we agreed to do the rest of the record up here. Our style of working was really similar to his, and we would be honored to work with Tony again.”
Companion videos have been made for three of Science Fiction’s songs—“Weightless,” “Innocent of Reason,” and “Hey.” The clip for “Weightless” was made by NYC-based filmmaker, animator, and painter Jeff Scher, whose work is part of permanent collections including MoMA and the Pompidou Centre, and who has directed a video for Bob Dylan, as well as numerous spots for HBO and Nickelodeon.
“Weightless” also—along with “Terrify”—features a string section of players from the Boston Symphony and Boston Pops, with string arrangements by Visconti. Other highlights include the Pink Floyd-ish title track, the Gypsy and near eastern-influenced, Echo & the Bunnymen-esque “Second Chance,” and “Full Stop,” featuring Kristeen Young on backing vocals (Young, also a Visconti-produced artist, opens for Morrissey on tour).
The Singhs was formed in 2001 to play a single festival, and has continued to play, record and tour together ever since. Their first album, 2001’s The Edge of the World, was arranged in Morocco. Jeet Singh was born in Sweden, has lived in five countries, and speaks English, French, Spanish and Hindi.
The Singhs have toured India twice—once opening for Bryan Adams in Bangalore before 40,000 people—performed at a Peace Concert in Srinagar, Kashmir, and played at a festival in the Maldives. In addition to Singh and Parcek— a master guitarist who’s been honored as Best Performer by the Boston Blues Society multiple times, and has been told by Buddy Guy that he’s “as bad as Eric Clapton”—the line-up includes: keyboardist DJ Brother Cleve (Del Fuegos, Combustible Edison), who’s also a world renowned craft cocktail expert; drummer Steve Scully (James Taylor, Juliana Hatfield), and bassist Marc Hickox.
Singh’s company Redstar Media, of which Redstar Entertainment is a division, also encompasses Redstar Union/Redstar Studios in Cambridge. Redstar Union is a live performance/recording and Internet streaming venue that hosts many artists and innovators in the Boston community and beyond.
In addition, on a monthly basis, The Singhs invite other Boston area musicians to curate and play live shows at the performance space and HD-Media complex under the series The Singhs & Friends. The venue also live streams diverse programming, including comedy, film, innovation and entrepreneurship, the latter of which relates to Singh’s background as an innovator and serial entrepreneur, having founded one of the breakthrough software companies in electronic commerce, ATG.
Singhs’ background made the decision to expand on the music distribution model for Science Fiction with a groundbreaking app a natural step forward. “In our increasingly mobile and video-dominated world, we were looking to create a new way of experiencing an album,” he says. “The Science Fiction app is a step toward creating a rich, mobile and dynamic content gateway for music fans—not just for us as a band, but eventually for others too.”
