Anoushka Shankar announces new mini album with first single 'Stolen Moments'

Anoushka Shankar, the acclaimed sitar player, producer and composer, has confirmed details of a new mini-album, Chapter I: Forever, For Now. Released by LEITER, the label run by Nils Frahm and Felix Grimm, it will be available on vinyl and via all digital platforms from October 6, 2023, in the same week she begins her US tour. Her first release since December 2022’s standalone single, ‘In Her Name’, which commemorated the tenth anniversary of the 2012 gang rape in Delhi of Jyoti Singh Pandey, the mini-album also follows Between Us..., her live album for LEITER earlier the same year, recorded with Jules Buckley and the Metropole Orkest and nominated for a Grammy for Best Global Album in 2023. It will be preceded by the digital release of ‘Stolen Moments’ on June 30.

Recorded at LEITER’s studio in Berlin’s celebrated Funkhaus complex, the four new tracks make up the first chapter in a trilogy of mini-albums Shankar will be writing and releasing as an evolving story between tours. Featuring guest appearances by Nils Frahm (piano, glass harmonica, harmonium, slit drum), Gal Maestro (bass) and Magda Giannikou (accordion), Forever, For Now was produced by Arooj Aftab, with whom Shankar had previously collaborated on ‘Udhero Na’, from the deluxe edition of Aftab’s ‘Vulture Prince’ album. This, too, was nominated for a 2023 Grammy, this time for Best Global Music Performance – bringing to nine Shankar's tally of Grammy nominations to date – and their creative reunion for Chapter I proved especially liberating. “I wanted recordings that express moments,” the sitarist says, “not my analysis of those moments from a future vantage point, which often happens when working on albums over a longer period.”

Right from the outset, Shankar’s intention over the three releases was to work with a different producer on each mini-album, and Aftab was an obvious candidate for these inaugural sessions. “I’d always thought she was brilliant,” Shankar recalls. “and working together on ‘Udhero Na' confirmed our collaborative chemistry. I love the genre-fluid world she creates with thoughtful arrangements and sonic spaces. It’s something I also value in my own work, but she does it differently. I was really drawn to that different voice, that different colour.”

Shankar had already visited LEITER’s studio once, discovering its famed acoustics for herself while jamming with Frahm. “There’s a romance to a room with that kind of recording history and scale,” she enthuses, and the stars aligned when she and Aftab agreed it was also the most convenient venue to reunite for a week during their endless travels. They began with a blank slate, aside from “little half ideas and unformed melodies,” and it took just two days to rough out three of the four songs. “In the months before we met in Berlin,” Shankar continues, “we had talked extensively about what we hadn’t heard in my work before, and that was really formative in how I approached my playing. Once in the studio Arooj was a clear, warm and generous producer, and the creative process instantly flowed.”

Also on hand those first two days was Frahm, whose role, Shankar elaborates, “was subtle but magical. He was so present and open, moving around his instruments in a way that was very inspiring.” In particular, he joined Aftab in coaxing the exquisitely paced, delicately arranged ‘Stolen Moments’ from Shankar’s original, haunting melody. “Exploring space and silence is not something that’s always been comfortable for me, and I allowed myself to hold back and not just play notes for the sake of it. It felt like a recording that came from truly listening and responding to the moment.”

Listen to 'Stolen Moments'

Anoushka Shankar on 'Stolen Moments':

“’Stolen Moments’ was the first song we recorded for Chapter I: Forever, For Now, and it reminded me of just how intuitive music-making can be. I hummed a small melody to Arooj on a voice note one day and a few days later we finally met at LEITER Studios. On arrival she hummed back a refrain for me to play under my main melody and Nils, who was also there, jumped in, suggesting that rather than thinking too hard I just meditate and play the line until it felt good to stop. I felt a little vulnerable with both Arooj and Nils in the control room but tried to remember that they’re both people and artists I trust and respect hugely. I took a deep breath and played the melody in one uninterrupted take. After that I went back and improvised my layered sitar lines, with Arooj as the most encouraging producer and Nils as an incredibly generous collaborator.

The title ‘Stolen Moments’ comes from a recently-strengthened awareness of how precious any moments of health, freedom and happiness are. Someone I love dearly has struggled a lot in recent times and I became acutely aware of how important it is to seize any moment of joy and positivity we can. In those moments our hearts are flooded with tenderness, and almost nothing else matters. Each moment, lived fully, forever, for now.“

Track List

1. DAYDREAMING (feat. Nils Frahm)

2. STOLEN MOMENTS

3. WHAT WILL WE REMEMBER?

4. SLEEPING FLOWERS (AWAKEN EVERY SPRING)

ANOUSHKA SHANKAR LIVE

• 15/04/2024, Bozar, Brussels