Biography
Composed of singer/songwriter Arsh Khaira and producer Eric Cheng (Hills Like White Elephants, Spreepark), Portraits is at once a blend of indie and experimental, injected with nostalgic pop backgrounds - tastefully distorted at times, played down at others - and artfully combined with Khaira's intense yet stoic vocals, implying the urgency of their message. Their self-titled album is a palette of emotions, all recorded in seclusion by the duo in the spring and summer of 2005. Their sound is heart-wrenching and warming at the same time; playful and mournful. The songs, tranquil and melancholy at times, soaring and driving at others, compliment deliberate and oft times politically charged lyrics in a clever and intense way, immersing the listener in a world in confusion, but from the safety of a dreamlike vantage. Portraits is awareness found in introspection and the hope found in tragedy. They are a conscience born of the awareness of the negative; like watching natural disasters in slow motion.