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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Shaad D'Souza and Ben Beaumont-Thomas

Add to playlist: the sweet plunderphonics of Quiet Light and the week’s best new tracks

A woman in a white off-shoulder top and skirt stands near a creek with foliage. A press shot for Riya Mahesh AKA Quiet Light.
Moody and magical … Riya Mahesh AKA Quiet Light. Photograph: Leah Blom

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Riya Mahesh has perfected her own sweet, whimsical brand of plunderphonics; her seventh project as Quiet Light in six years, this year’s Blue Angel Sparkling Silver 2, sounds a little as if it’s been chopped together from samples of Mahesh’s own memory. On Berlin, she sings to a wayward love interest over a moony breakbeat and IDM glitches, as a spoken-word part – what sounds to me like a recording of a lecture – floats in the background. Star100 starts all whispers and garbled laughter, before ceding space to Mahesh’s multitracked harmonies. Sometimes, Mahesh will suddenly deliver a wildly catchy chorus, something she clearly has an aptitude for – check Dealerz, her collab with Danish band A Good Year.

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