Having found success with his debut record, ‘Morning In Brixton’, which was played extensively across the US college underground radio network, earning him a record deal in the US, British Bengali indie-pop singer-songwriter Pallab Sarker is back with his endearing follow up single, ‘Not Gonna Fall In Love With You’.
However, for a long time, Pallab led a seemingly ‘double life’; he was a press adviser to Ministers in the day, including Trade Minister Lord Digby Jones during the last Labour administration, and a musician by night, but on one occasion he merged the two, performing a gig in the atrium of the home office in the name of Children in Need, raising thousands of pounds in the process.
Pallab now continues his ‘double life’, running a successful city based PR firm Apollo Strategic Communications in the day, taking his suit off, and recording and performing in East London by night. His day job sees him work with some of the world’s most prominent political leaders, CEOs and thinkers, regularly rubbing shoulders with celebrities. The most treasured moment from his day job was accompanying a client to a private meeting with His Holiness Pope Francis in the Vatican. During the meeting, Pope Francis personally blessed some rosary beads for Pallab as a gift for his Italian in laws, something he will never forget.
After Pallab’s parents fled from the Bangladesh war of independence in the 70s and raised him in Peterborough, Pallab relocated to London during his early twenties at the peak of the brit-pop explosion. The lively scene that took the music world by storm inspired the budding songwriter who quickly formed a band, ICON, who gigged incessantly across the capital and its lively circuit. Although Pallab is now based in Walthamstow, he has spent a lot of time immersed in the vibrant arts scene of South London, which inspired the single ‘Morning In Brixton’, also taken from his upcoming album, Grey Day.
Since his band days, Pallab has developed his sound as a solo artist and he can now be considered a genuine songbird, whose arresting voice and touching melodies ooze with emotional value, speaking straight to the hearts of his listeners. Within Sarker’s work is a humanizing touch, most clearly exhibited through his kind, clever lyricism and its sonic journey instigating abilities, which can be found on ‘Not Gonna Fall In Love With You’.
Not only this, but Pallab feels strongly about the lack of British Asians being showcased in the indie genre. He points out that British Asians have played a huge role in the development of garage and R&B, but there is little mainstream representation when it comes to the indie singer-songwriter scene: Sarker could well be the poster boy who kicks off a new era for British Asians in this genre.
Inspired by the likes of Damien Rice, Elliot Smith, Jeff Buckley and Tracy Chapman, Pallab borrows elements from these iconic songwriters in order to form his individual style that proves him to be a charismatic poet for the modern age.
