Arular

About Arular in brief

Arular is the debut studio album by British recording artist M. I. A. It was released on 22 March 2005 in the U.S. and one month later in the United Kingdom. The album’s title is the political code name used by her father, Arul Pragasam, during his involvement with Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups. It reached number 98 on the UK Albums Chart and number 190 on the US Billboard 200. Arular was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2005 and was included in the 2005 edition of the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. By mid-2007, the album had sold 129,000 copies in the US, Arular spawned the singles \”Sunshowers\”, \”Bucky Done Gun\” and \”Galang\”, which was released twice. The track ‘Hombre’ featured a drum pattern created from the sounds made by toys that M.I. A had bought in India, augmented with sounds produced by objects such as pens and mobile phones. The song was co-written by former Elastica singer Justine Frischmann, whose input was described as’refreshing’ and ‘breathtaking’ M. i. A wrote or co-wrote all the songs on the album, while collaborators included Switch, Diplo, Richard X, Ant Whiting and Greg \”Wizard\” Fleming. She created the basic backing tracks using a Roland MC-505 sequencerdrum machine given to her by long-time friend JustineFrischmann. She initially planned to work as a producer, but was unable due to budget constraints and other artists’ unfamiliarity with her work.

She chose to perform all the vocals herself, saying: ‘I just quietly got on with it. I didn’t convince anyone it was good… I felt it was much better to prove that I could be an individual’ She contends that her father’s ideals are the album’s thematic base. ‘In arular means ‘light from the sunshine’ or something something like that,’ she remarked, ‘but a friend pointed out that it was a pun in English – which is funny because he is a politician’ She was inspired by electroclash artist Peaches, whose minimalistic approach to music inspired her. She found Peaches’ decision to perform without additional instrumentation to be brave and liberating and felt that it emphasised the artist. She programmed drum beats at home on the drum machine. In 2001, she had worked exclusively in the visual arts. She secured a record deal with XL Recordings after she unexpectedly gained access to a 505 owned by her friend, ex-Elastica singer, Justine. Frischman. She was introduced to the RolandMC-505 Sequencedrum machine by Peaches in 2001, and she used it to make demo recordings in her bedroom. In 2004, she released two singles and a mixtape. The single ‘Sunsh showers’ was preceded by two singles, and the mixtape was released in 2004.