Nitin Sawhney released his latest album Identity on October 20th, following the release of singles “Darling Boy” feat. Guy Garvey, “Ancestral” feat. Hak Baker, “Illegal” feat. Gary Lineker & Voices from Asha Projects, and “Definition of Happy” feat. I Am Roze. Identity follows Sawhney’s critically acclaimed 2021 album Immigrants. 

As part of the release, Sawhney also played London’s Royal Albert Hall on October 20th. The performance was the centerpiece of the venue’s Journeys Festival, which was curated by Sawhney to celebrate “diverse journeys and identity through music, art, and discussion.”

Speaking with Reuters on the album, Sawhney explained his inspiration for the album, “Identity as a subject of discourse or debate on social media and mainstream media has become increasingly distorted so that it’s very much about a kind of pejorative judgment … of people’s identity … quite often on the basis of prejudice rather than understanding. So I thought it would be great to actually make an album that’s a celebration of identity effectively and it’s really … inviting a lot of people that I respect and admire as artists to participate in a collective, kind of, speaking out about how they feel about their own identities.”

The Arts Desk praised the release, saying, “Nitin Sawhney never fails to produce albums that draw on the talent of his brilliant friends, touch on issues of current urgency, and bridge musical styles with great deftness and in a way that avoids the frequent artifice of fusion.”

Stream Identity: