Koushik - Out My Window

Pitchforkmedia.com Review

• Aaron Leitko
• Pitchforkmedia.com
• September 24, 2008

Canadian producer/singer/songwriter Koushik's first proper full-length, Out My Window, is serene 1960s psych-pop filtered through a cratedigger's collage of samples. Choice tidbits of soul, pop, and indie rock are separated from their sources, drenched in reverb, thickened with old-school hip-hop beats, and then dusted with Koushik's own languid vocals. It's a candyland of lilting psychedelic moods and stoner nostalgia where songs undulate, shift form, and drool into one another. Listening to the whole 45-minute record at once is like taking an extended nap. At the end you feel relaxed, revived, and maybe just slightly dazed.

Personal details about Koushik are about as ethereal as his music. Born in Ontario, Canada, Koushik Ghosh apparently started DJing at the age of 14, before earning masters degrees in biostatistics and ethnomusicology from the University of Vermont. Then, somehow, he wound up here-- gently guiding a raft of vibraphone samples over a lake of reverb for Stones Throw Records. Adhering to the road map laid out on his 2005 EP collection Be With (Out My Window features that record's title track), Koushik weaves his songs together from wispy psych-soul fragments and understated pop melodies, heavily referencing the Shuggie Otis-school of slightly buzzed R&B.

Despite that, the record's heart is the drowsy half-baked daze that surrounds its moodier songs. Ballad "Corner of Your Smile" slides slowly into focus with Koushik's romantic musings drenched in echo. "In a Green Space" skews funkier, bringing up the drums and adding a slinky not-quite-on-the-beat bass line. Sure, there's some cheeseball elements here-- tinkling fender rhodes, breathy flutes, wind chimes. But even those elements are saved from chill-room hell by Koushik's airy vocals. Low in the mix and often doubled to the point of inscrutability, the producer's breathy singing and paisley lyrics add hooks to even his most slippery music. The end result is a delectable pop record, with Koushik's heavy ambiance and amorphous production combining to nudge his songs to their tingling crescendos.

www.pitchforkmedia.com
www.stonesthrow.com/koushik