Ravi Shavi has been a mainstay of the Providence underground music scene since the early 2010s. But “Wild Rock Dove” is the band’s first album in six years. The music is lush and often upbeat, yet songwriter Rafay Rashid doesn’t shy away from tough topics like xenophobia and sobriety. He also does it with a wink – a reminder that, hard as things might get, there’s still room for a little laughter and optimism.
It’s an album that explores the personal, global, and political – from Rashid’s experiences as a Pakistani American to the nonchalance of violence in the U.S.
Ravi Shavi came by Ocean State Media recently for the latest edition of Biggest Little Desk: our series of intimate, live mini-concerts in the style of NPR’s Tiny Desk.
After the set, afternoon host Mareva Lindo spoke with Rashid about “Wild Rock Dove,” where he got the nickname “pigeon,” his reflections on the 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks and more.
Click the “listen” button to hear a longer, web-exclusive version of the interview.
Interview highlights
On the meaning behind the name of the album and song ‘Wild Rock Dove’
Pigeon was my self-ascribed name in elementary school.… We had moved from Pakistan a few years prior, and I felt a little bit on the outside. I was like perched on the hill, I remember, in recess, and all the kids every day would play soccer. And I was just sitting there, like, when did everybody get soccer training? Or when did everybody get this practice … I didn't know how to insert myself into the game. So I thought, I got to do something. So I just decided one day I'd just go down and kind of flap my wings and run through the field, because there's usually a mascot. I didn't see a mascot out there, so I was like, “I'll be the mascot. I'll be the pigeon. Call me pigeon.” So that's where pigeon came from. And then ultimately, when I found out that one of the technical classifications of that animal was wild rock dove, I was like, oh, there's something here.
On the song ‘Happens All the Time,’ a dark but cheery-sounding commentary on violence in America
It's about the nonchalance in which we sort of absorb really traumatizing information on a daily basis, you know. And so there's the cheerful side of that song because it's like, you could just whistle Dixie down the street while you know there are children and innocent men and women being killed. And so I was interested about writing about these things also in a not heavy, distorted way, which is often the way in which that message is delivered – at least out of the circles that we were coming from, which are like the DIY underground Providence scene. And yeah, I just thought, can we deliver these messages also in a way that seems inviting, and maybe people will lean in?
On the ‘kernel of truth’ behind the joke-turned-song ‘New Brown Neighbors’
“New Brown Neighbors” was … kind of a look globally about how brown people, for lack of a better word, are being perceived, and in America specifically. But I think it started off because I had new brown neighbors, and me and [bandmate] Shahjehan [Khan] were pulling out of my apartment. We always make up songs in the car, and there was presumably a Pakistani or Indian family moving next door, and I was just excited. So we started making that song, which is a silly origin story, but hey, that's the truth. And then as soon as I started writing the verses, I was like, oh, actually, this song could be a vessel for something a lot more, a lot deeper than I thought initially. Which I always like, when a joke can contain the sort of truth in there somewhere.
On how the Providence music scene has changed since his start in the 2000s
It's been really inspiring to see the new generation of young art kids making experimental music and carrying the torch. So in a way, a lot of what's really nice about the Providence music scene is that there's sort of a through line. And I was just, we were just playing at this thing called Tuxedo Fest, which was very DIY, in a warehouse space, and full of bands making slightly challenging, enigmatic music. And I think that's really neat to see, that there's something about the aesthetic which I feel like has carried over from the days of Lightning Bolt and Arab on Radar, who are still active to different degrees.… You know, obviously we've dealt with a lot of venues closing, especially in the past few years. But the resilience of the DIY community to just make spaces, to not really ask for permission, but just to start throwing shows wherever they can, whether it's a basement or a warehouse or all-purpose jujitsu studio or whatever… they'll make a space for people to gather.
Reflecting on the 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks
It's such a specter looming over this country, and especially … if you look like somebody who was targeted after that. It's evolved for sure. And part of what I've tried to do with this project is to address some of the ways in which people who look like me are perceived, and change that a little bit … on a very small scale that I can affect, you know. But the fact that Zohran Mamdani is the mayor of New York City – that's pretty cool. Like 25 years, you know – 10 years ago, even, that would have, I think, been near impossible. So I am cautiously optimistic about how Muslim Americans, Arab Americans, brown people are holding space for themselves in this country, in New York and the surrounding area. Just globally, it's so hard to pin down how to prevent, you know, further calamities, catastrophes, the retaliation aspect obviously being employed now again, of just like “we were attacked and now we have to retaliate” for 20 years. You know what I mean? Just that doesn't seem like the way. But you know, we do our part. We do what we can to change things for the better a little bit.
The Biggest Little Desk is sponsored by Empire Guitars.
