Ravi Shavi

***RAVI SHAVI trade in the post-punk skronk from last year's limited vinyl release Erase America for the skronk post-funk of Wild Rock Dove. There’s long been a thread of Eno running through Ravi Shavi’s work, and if tracks like opener “Peace of Mind” conjure Roxy Music, the chaser “Fresh Hell” could have been ripped from the No New York comp. Longtime guitarist Nick Politelli scatters Will Sargeant-style licks across the album like Necco Wafers drenched in reverb. He finds a foil in Chuck Perry, who has fleshed out the band’s live sets for years and brings his slinky, shapeshifting tone to the forefront of several tracks, including title cut “Wild Rock Doves”.

The band's sixth release on Almost Ready Records marks six years sober for frontman and songwriter Rafay Rashid. Firmly in control of this art-damaged chaos, Rashid turns his gaze from white liberal hypocrisy in “New Brown Neighbors” to his own sordid past on “Misbehave”. Rashid’s songs are rooted in his experience as a naturalized citizen, specifically as a Pakistani-American and uniquely as a trickster- fuckup that never fully earns White America’s praise as a model immigrant or scorn as a hatta-clad terrorist.

In this distinct space he has a co-conspirator with songwriter and guitar-player Shahjehan Khan–formerly of The Kominas and most recently flexing his acting chops in cult streaming hit Deli Boys. The two offer the band’s first song in Urdu, the album-closer, “Halaat”. Loosely translated to “circumstances” and finding a sonic bridge from South Asia to West Africa, the song forms an uncanny coincidence as a soundtrack to Pakistan’s ongoing diplomacy – as of this writing the only thing holding back yet another US-led humanitarian disaster.

Yes, that makes three guitar players if you’re keeping score at home – four if you include Rafay, who also swaps in on bass for a few tracks. Yet Wild Rock Dove is far from a redundant traipse through guitar heroics. Recorded in a marathon three day session with Brad Krieger at Big Nice Studio, this is a record with big ideas and a sense of urgency, that understands confrontation doesn’t have to sacrifice melody or vulnerability.