Rashid, Rafay

***Kitchen Weapons is the debut solo album from Rafay Rashid. These eight spacious, lushly-rendered songs turn a lens to the spiritual and personal costs of a life spent in pursuit of artistic glory. Unsparing, unrelenting, with a voice by turns anguished, haunted or pleading, Rashid pokes deep into existential dread, processing the ashes of a decade-long relationship and standing on the cusp of his thirties facing mental and physical ruin. Written on a piano in the basement of a decrepit triple-decker during a “moment before the moment of clarity,” the album follows Rashid as he wrestles with ego, questions of identity and autonomy, and the purpose of art itself. Kitchen Weapons marks a creative turn for Rashid from his work as the kinetic frontman of the cult Providence, RI-based band Ravi Shavi. Working with producer and drummer Dennis Ryan, who deftly balances virtuosic takes from his bandmates in Deer Tick, Rashid has assembled a host of stellar contributors, reflecting his time in any number of one-offs, side-projects, and supporting roles across the Providence underground music scene.