Although Sabreen Islam is young, and is currently studying at the University of Auckland, she has been involved in the arts for some time, both in music and poetry and performed at The Others Way Festival as far back as 2018. To date she has released a few singles, the most recent of which can be found here on her debut EP. Sabreen’s voice is gentle and soothing, and here she is very much performing in a pop format but she has a style which I can see also relating very well to stripped down arrangements with an acoustic guitar and taking the songs just a little slower.
Sabreen’s vocal style is compelling, youthful but with a beguiling and almost wistful nature which makes the listener want to get involve that little bit more. Her vocals are always at the fore of the arrangements, with the words also being very important to the overall effect, and while they appear delicate there is also the feeling of real power and strength behind it all.
The songs are quite similar in their approach, and I am sure that is down more to the production than anything else and she is someone I can imagine being quite different when playing live. I would have liked a much lighter touch, to let her fragility and soul really to shine through as that is somewhat masked. The title cut is one which has everything else in the background, but is somewhat spoiled by percussion/beats which reduce the overall effect. I can hear traditional percussion, but it is being performed in a manner I am not used to, and I would have loved to have heard a stronger mix of Western pop with traditional Bangladeshi sounds as when cultures truly come together it can often produce something very special indeed. I note Sabreen has performed with Jamie McDell in the past and in terms of vocal styles I can see that being a very good match indeed, with Fields showing what can happen when an acoustic guitar is placed front and centre (albeit with lots of multi-track harmonies).
Currently Sabreen is performing music which is influenced by dream pop to a large extent, yet also being brought more into mainstream pop due to the her vocals, and it will be interesting to see how she progresses going forward as I am sure we are going to hear a lot more from her in the future.
About the author Kev Rowland
From 1990 – 2006 I ran Feedback fanzine in the UK, writing about bands that were rarely covered in the mainstream press, many of whom were in the underground scene. I built close ties with many British Progressive groups in particular, including writing the newsletter for Freewill, getting gigs for Credo and writing the introduction to Galahad’s OCMDII compilation. I reviewed literally thousands of cassettes and then CDs from bands from throughout the world, and was lucky enough to interview many of them. During this period I also contributed to the French progzine Acid Dragon, wrote for the music newspaper Rock ‘n’ Reel and was also involved with the Ghostland website. In 2006 I moved to NZ, and stopped running Feedback (which was then renamed Amplified after I left, at my request) having produced over 80 editions with more than 11,000 pages of print and heaven knows how many reviews
More by Kev Rowland
Gig Review: Crushfest @ The Tuning Fork, Auckland – 07/07/2023
Single Review: Love and War
Single Review: All This Time
Single Review: Sons of Savages
Gig Review: Stray Dogs @ AUX, Auckland – 26/05/2023
Gig Review: Turkey The Bird @ The Ministry of Folk, Auckland – 27/05/2023
Single Review: Beautiful Creature
Gig Review: Emily Rice @ Your Local Coffee Roasters, Pukekohe – 24/05/2023
EP Review: Bridge City Crew
Single Review: Your Heart of Gold
Single Review: The Strangest Dream
Single Review: No Funeral Blues
