Fighter | Trickbaby

*I claim no ownership or rights over this video.

Lyrics:

" I was watching a late night film
How to steal a million - A Parisienne sting
Venus wasn't quite what she seemed
A forgery, a robbery, a happy ending
I was chatting some ridiculous things
Funny kind of conversations late nights bring
Winding you up like a spring
No matter what I say I seem to say the wrong thing”

Artist: Trickbaby

Song: Fighter

While scrounging for new music to analyze and dissect for this post, I suddenly realized that “New” was never something what this blog was about. The essence of Poplar Purfling lies in hidden nuggets. Trickbaby is definitely one of those hidden nuggets. Displaying a brief sparkle, this band disappointingly went back into hibernation and seems almost dead now.

Fighter, like all the other tracks by Trickbaby, securely retains what this band started out with – a hybrid. Fighter is like that quaint little top with funky prints in psychedelic colors that is sadly lying forgotten in some corner and catching dust. You bought the top because you fell in love with the amounts of bizarre oozing out of it. But, then forgot about it and never wore it enough.

This track has that crackling bollywood masala with a dash of psychedelic western influence in it. Saira Hussain, the lead vocalist, has an otherworldly style that captivates the listener. Bollywood splits and hisses in her singing style while her British background easily fuses to create kaleidoscopic sounds. A very danceable beat and nostalgic rhythms and melodies, especially, if you’re a 90s Bollywood kid. This track is a good way to reintroduce Trickbaby and what it tried to start. The style could very easily become a genre of its own, but I’m glad it didn’t because it somehow lent Trickbaby a very unique identity which it still retains.

About The Artist: 

Trickbaby is a London based band, influenced by modern dance music and Indian Bollywood classics. They were born out of the songwriting partnership of Saira Hussain and Steve Ager, and the rhythms of Vikaash Sankadecha. Described as an East/West soundclash, Saira cites influences from modern Western music through to Bollywood movie classics. It is this unique blend of inspiration, and contemporary use of classic Indian instruments alongside modern production values that provide the basis of the Trickbaby sound.

The band’s debut single did receive a huge mainstream response, but did not quite retain its shine for long. With massive support for ‘Neela’ in 2004, Trickbaby looked promising and almost made it big in 2008. With an amazing opportunity given by Rohan Sippy in Bluffmaster, the band was doing spectacularly well. After 2008, with the release of Chor Bazaar, the band was producing authentic pieces that stayed true to the Trickbaby style. The world hasn’t heard from them since. Let’s hope this dormancy has a good reason and ends with more spectacular pieces.

Some other pieces worth listening to:

• Neela
• Slipping through your fingers
• Nine Parts