Had things gone differently, Nitin Sawhney might have been a lawyer, an accountant or a comedian. Instead, the polymathic musician has become a chronicler of London. His new CD, London Undersound, explores a city of paranoia with only occasional flashes of light.

A Londoner for 20 years, Sawhney grew up in Rochester, Kent. “Yes, it was picturesque: the castle, the cathedral, really good pubs. It was a cool place to grow up. If you subtract the National Front.” He studied law at Liverpool University. “The idea of being a musician, as an Asian, and making a living ... I thought, I’ll do music on the side as something I love doing.” After a couple of years he dropped out and qualified as an accountant. For a while, he was the financial controller of a hotel. He dropped out again to play keyboards with the James Taylor Quartet, a modish acid-jazz outfit, and “vowed never to go back” to accountancy.