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Menwhopause—Easy
After four years and plenty of globetrotting, Delhi band Menwhopause are ready with their second album. Called Easy, it’s the band’s major label debut—coming out on EMI later this month.
Opener Time is a sprawling, laid-back epic, driven by a loopy riff. The song’s second section breaks into an interlude that wouldn’t be out of place in an Indian Ocean album. Track 2, Can’t we be dreaming, sounds like Malayalam rockers Avial’s Aadu Pambe crossed with Bangalore band Lounge Piranha at their darkest. Floating is reminiscent of the Beatles track Across the universe, and maintains that floaty, ethereal quality throughout. There’s the slightest hint of bloopy electronica in Brimful.
Miti Adhikari, who previously worked with the erstwhile Kolkata band, The Supersonics, produced this album—and his influence is visible. Like Maby Baking, The Supersonics’ debut album, there’s a consistency to the sound that gives the album a cohesive feel—and a unified conceptual underpinning.
Most of the songs in Easy are driven by a metronomic acoustic guitar, and vocalist Sarabjit Chadha’s precise vocals. There’s a quiet intensity to much of Easy that lets the songs grow on you—no gratuitous guitar solos or attempts at epic choruses clamour for your attention. Just solid songwriting and a set of great tunes (including three bonus tracks from Home, the band’s debut). The album’s title, you realize, isn’t a description of the songs themselves but how simple the band makes it all seem.
Menwhopause play at the Hard Rock Café in Delhi on 27 January.
Barefaced Liar
Barefaced Liar has no conceptual thread running through the album; neither is one necessary. This is straight-up rock, served with catchy tunes (To the Alamo) and pointless lyrics (Turismo) and pleasingly complex guitar solos (Free Radical). Barefaced Liar are best experienced live, but their album works as a competent marker of their talent—there’s plenty of energy on display, and gleams of songwriting talent that make them a band to watch with interest.
krish.r@livemint.com
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