Breaking English, the Anti- debut of New York guitarist and
producer Rafiq Bhatia (member of Son Lux,) shatters preconceptions about how
much can be said without a word—and, for that matter, who
can say it. In fact, these thirty-two breathless minutes of
instrumental grandeur represent the auspicious arrival of
an audacious new voice, one of music’s great new performer-producers.
In 2012, Bhatia issued two recordings that earned immediate
acclaim, with The New York Times dubbing his music “intrepid,
arresting, and stylish.” Two years later, he joined Son
Lux, a studio-centered project in which producer Ryan Lott
used software to warp found sounds into dazzling electronic
experiments. Son Lux afforded Bhatia the chance to record
with the likes of Lorde and Sufjan Stevens, but, more important,
it gave him the support to rethink his entire approach to
creating music—the process that ultimately yielded Breaking
English.