Slowspin Introduces New Album 'AFTERIMAGE' With New Single 'Phantom Weight'

As a U.S.-based but Karachi-rooted artist, Zeerak Ahmed aka Slowspin's work also often deals with the themes that affect diaspora. But, for Slowspin, they manifest with more depth than the obvious approach of borrowing language or stories from the native culture only to force them into contemporary frameworks. Her expression is more rooted in conveying the emotion than the aesthetic.

It's something she displayed on the 2023 album 'TALISMAN' and seems to hone further on her upcoming album 'AFTERIMAGE', from which she has just released the first single 'Phantom Weight'. The single and the album both peel back the layers further, in arrangements, lyrics and self.

With a few words over electric piano chords and string lines, 'Phantom Weight' conveys the wistfulness of always being connected and always being pressed upon by the migrant memories of roots that feel both too-faint and too-unshakeable. The theme is captured more in the whirlwind of vocal layers that engulf the minimal track, echoing and sustaining alongside the dramatic violin lines – indicative of the album's wider palette of keeping things just a tad bit experimental but staying far from overburdening the listener.

Listen to 'Phantom Weight' below and follow Slowspin for more.

Image by Tonje Thilesen