Nitin Sawhney

On his eighth album, Nitin Sawhney continues to develop his unique fusion of pop, world music and dance beats, crafting a fittingly multicultural tribute to London. The reaction to changes in the city after the 2005 bomb attacks, a sense of melancholy pervades songs sketched in skeletal acoustic guitar and flush with keening Eastern melodies. Varied collaborators including Imogen Heap and Paul McCartney lend their voices to a truly communal effort. Sawhney's at his best on the delicate "Shadowland," featuring Ojos De Brujo, which nimbly joins flamenco, rai and 21st-century beat science.