PREMIERE: Ravi Shavi gifts late-stage capitalism anthem “Fresh Hell”
- yellow light staff
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Cocooned in punchy guitar and smooth jazz breaks, Ravi Shavi welcomes listeners into their no-wave “Fresh Hell.” Out today, along with a David Ebel-directed music video, the second single off the group’s album Wild Dove Rock (June 12th, Almost Ready Records) is equal parts menacing and upbeat. The fast tempo creates a sense of being chased, translated literally in the visual as New Yorkers clad in business attire track down a running protagonist. “Fresh Hell” calls out the heaviness of a late-stage capitalistic society but still imbues dance-ability. To experience joy and creation amidst rage is the ultimate form of protest.
I got to chat with Rafay Rashid, frontman of Ravi Shavi, on the origins of the track and the project as a whole.
YLM: As the second single off your forthcoming album Wild Dove Rock, where does “Fresh Hell” sit amongst the other tracks? What can we expect from the full LP?
RR: “Fresh Hell” comes after the opening track as a faster nod to no-wave and ESG inspired funk minimalism. The LP is a mixture of punk, tuareg, and pakistani influence as well as random bands I grew up loving; there’s horns, a ballad, and the whole thing feels a bit more colorful than previous Ravi Shavi albums. I like it.
YLM: Ravi Shavi operates as a five-piece act. How did you find yourself in collaboration with your bandmates, and in what ways if any is this group a departure from previous acts (Kitchen Weapons, etc)?
RR: I’ve always played and gravitated towards people who I admire musically but also that I think are a great hang. This one, in addition to teaming up with longtime collaborators Nick Politelli and Ben Tucker, I grew up stanning Shahjehan Khan’s old band The Kominas and Chuck Perry’s various contributions to bands in Providence, especially Joy Boys so was excited for them to join the live band and eventually the record. There were also some really meaningful contributions along the way from John Faraone, a great friend and solo artist, and Daniel Tanner of Atlantic Thrills, both from Providence. Also Chase Ceglie and Robbie Crowell both played some really amazing horn and synth stuff on the album. Between all the projects, and probably this is true of most bands in Providence, everyone plays on each others’ stuff, especially if you’re playing guitar music. Oh yeah, and Bradford Krieger played so many cool parts in the studio too.
YLM: You’re a Providence, RI based act, with roots in Pakistan and New York. How has that amalgamation of origins informed the current no-wave Ravi Shavi sound?
RR: Yeah, one of my favorite people Muggs Fogarty introduced me to ESG which kind of opened me up to more dissonant guitar paired with more inviting bass and drums, and I liked that parallel. Also, Keith from The Shivers told me a long time to get into Suicide which I hadn’t fully embraced until the years leading up to this record. Dennis Ryan was showing me a lot of William Onyeabor and Nick Politelli was getting into a lot of Tuareg music. Chuck is always drawing from his encyclopedic knowledge of experimental rock and roll and underground records, so while No-Wave was definitely the genre of the Erase demo tape, I think this one really goes in all sorts of unrestricted places while still playing within the pop format. A lot of the songs are really short. Speaking to Pakistan and New York, yeah, I think those places are a huge part of what constitutes home for me- so it made sense to do all the videos in New York and to finally sing a song in Urdu with Shahjehan.
YLM: The track is described as an exploration of dissonance between our capitalistic unraveling and “the commodification of every problem.” There’s almost an escapist quality sonically, juxtaposing the rhythmic march towards an unnamed doom. What’s your own “fresh hell”?
RR: Global atrocity, colonization and violence, the never-ending massacre of innocent people in Palestine and the wider Muslim world while we go about our days here really fueled this one. On a more individual scale, the brain can always find negative places to go, so it’s about the tension of staving away unnecessary anxiety but still holding these larger issues at the forefront.
YLM: What’s your yellow light?
RR: I used to try and blow past the yellow light but nowadays I take it literally and get ready to stop, look around. Sometimes it’s a reflex to keep going though because the momentum would cause someone to rear end you. These days my yellow light goes on when the stream of my thoughts becomes too fast, it’s usually a good cue to reign it in and slow it down. This album is slower than any of the others, and it’s still not very slow. I used to think energy meant fast, rapid, tight, angular, tense, now I think it’s just leaning into a groove, no matter the speed.
“Fresh Hell” is out today across streaming platforms.
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