SomeWhatSuper, a two-man music duo from Lahore, is coming out with one hit after another in their distinctive sound that combines folk tradition with modern sound. In an exclusive one on one, one half of the band, Talha Dar talks to Instep about their latest open-to-public concert, their upcoming EP release and how they hope to establish the band’s unique identity.
SomeWhatSuper duo (Talha Dar and Feroz Faisal) and Abid Brohi walk the LSA red carpet, circa 2017. (Left) SomeWhatSuper
performed to a massive crowd at the ‘Patari Tabeer’ concert on August 14. During the free concert, held at a mall in Lahore,
the music duo was joined by Abid Brohi with whom they collaborated on the hit single, ‘The Sibbi Song’. The gig also featured Lyari Underground and Nazar Gill.
MUSICMIX
Instep speaks to Talha Dar, one half of the duo, about their upcoming EP release and the band’s distinct musical identity.
SomeWhatSuper, a two-man music duo from Lahore, is coming out with one hit after another in their distinctive sound that combines folk tradition with modern sound. In an exclusive one on one, one half of the band, Talha Dar talks to Instep about their latest open-to-public concert, their upcoming EP release and how they hope to establish the band’s unique identity.
The duo is fresh on the heels of the release of ‘Pakistaniat’, their patriotic electronic track for 14th August. On how the song came about Dar shares, “we went for the LSA’s and met the in charge for Pakistaniat project. We were on board as soon as we heard about it. We spent six months working on it because we wanted it to be pitch perfect especially because patriotic songs are extremely close to people’s hearts.”
We’d say that the track hits pretty close to home with its stirring lyrics and groovy beats.
The band already has already had a number of game changing tracks like ‘The Sibbi Song’ and ‘Bandook’ and after a patriotic track in the mix, they’re finally ready to put out their EP. It is said to feature six original tracks with a number of collaborations between different artists. Upon further investigation, Instep learnt that they have rather exciting plans for the EP.
“The way we’ll launch the EP will define the identity and future of SomeWhatSuper”, shares a very optimistic Talha. They plan to partner up with Patari to release a video for each track featured on the EP and want to bring the identity of the band to life through visuals.
“We want to do it the way Tabeer was done and this time we have the budget so there is the potential for something great to happen,” he shares.
The EP’s release has seen a number of delays and Dar accounts it to the fact that most musicians they wanted to collaborate with are busy with other projects – mainly acting. We also came to learn that the duo has worked on songs with Momina Mustehsan and Josh but those are yet to be released because they feel those artists aren’t ready for that genre shift in their careers yet.
The SomeWhatSuper duo has also been quite open about not performing at public events, in fact their last open-to-all outing was a Levis sponsored gig last year. However, on 14th August they played at the Patari Tabeer concert with Abid Brohi, Lyari Underground and Nazar Gill at a sprawling mall in Lahore.
“We don’t normally do public performances because we feel like the public at large isn’t ready for our kind of music. An artist’s career could potentially be spoilt after one bad performance and we’ve had a bad experience where people were just lost with our music. We understand that electronic music is still niche in Pakistan so this little fear of ours remains.”
