Qasr

Description

Sheherazaad, the new signing on Erased Tapes, is an American singer-songwriter whose contemporary folk-pop synthesis, produced by Arooj Aftab, joins the new wave of South Asian diasporic soundscapes. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Sheher studied Arabic, Hindi, and Urdu in an effort to reclaim a lost heritage, where she quickly progressed and wrote test lyrics. This would lead to her self-released underground project in 2020, Khwaabistan, and catch the attention of Arooj Aftab, who offered to produce her next record. Working long-distance from different coasts during the pandemic, the two artists set to work on Qasr. On Qasr, Sheherazaad offers us a seductive new soundscape, not yet of this world. But she also fans the flame of the fantasies inherent to the nomadic experience, which might finally be brought to the forefront. Overall, this enchanting album finds an artist building her own fortress, while urging us to forge our own castles, musical queens, and impossible dreamlands.