I wanna take you away/ Let’s escape into the music/DJ, let it play.” – ‘Please Don’t Stop The Music.” – ‘Please Don’t Stop the Music’ by Rihanna

Artist: Umair Jaswal

Album: Dance Karein Saari Raat (Volume I) ***

Before we embark on this adventure of Umair Jaswal, some things must be talked about. For those wondering about the fate of rock and its various hues, rest assured that enough good artists are still making such music. If you can take out some time and indulge, it will become palpable pop-rock, indie-pop-art, alternative neo rock and others are still co-existing within this music ecosystem. The choice is available in various shades with acts like Poor Rich Boy, Karakoram, Kashmir, Jimmy Khan, Takatak and several others. Noori has announced a comeback.

So, rock is in safe hands.

However, it is also true that electronic music has a stronghold over mainstream music right now and has had that hold for some time. It is a global trend in music. Even Beyonce embraced it with Renaissance (2022) But electronic doesn’t necessarily mean dance music. EDM is a subgenre of electronic.

When an artist like Umair Jaswal drops what is mostly an electronic album, it can and is a subversion of expectations. His music career always felt like it was tailor-made for a form of rock.

Getting together with Ahsan Pervaiz Mehdi (Velo Sound Station, Ali Noor’s Pagal) was a smart call for Umair who had decided to dispense with the grungy rock music we associate him with and replace it with experimental electronic songs.

It has taken years to get here. Qayaas may have been a killer music group with the likes of Sarmad Ghafoor a bandmate but it was ‘Charkha Nolakha’ from Coke Studio 5 (with Atif Aslam) that made the band and most of all its vocalist stand out.

Between those days and now, we have seen Umair Jaswal exploring music with songs on Coke Studio as a solo artist on multiple occasions, Velo Sound Station as well as Red Bull Sound Clash opposite the original bad boy of rock, Ali Azmat.

Some conversations with at least one not to be named musician made it seem that with his own album, Umair Jaswal will embrace and embellish upon his rock roots. But, not to be. His plan has changed and so has his sound.

It is also interesting that Umair Jaswal has released a full-length album during a time where full length albums are becoming a somewhat obsolete idea, one being replaced with EPs and singles (with or without music videos).

He does have a strong following as an actor, host and musician so how the album fares must can only be decided upon after lending it time. Each time you listen to a song from the album, the soundscape remains the same but the connotation of the song changes.

As for the cheekily-titled solo album suggests, Dance Karein Saari Raat (Volume I), there will be a second volume to this record.

So, how does Umair Jaswal introduce his new music avatar, glimpses of which were visible most during Velo Sound Station in 2020.

A great deal also depends on your understanding of electronic music, its subgenres and exposure to other albums that cater to the genre/subgenre irrespective of being Pakistani or not.

With that in mind, as we look towards Umair Jaswal’s album, the first volume of Dance Karein Saari Raat consists of 7 songs. The smart move is to not listen to it in sequential order but from anywhere. It will tell us whether the record is what Umair Jaswal promised or something else.

Fortunately for me, out of those 7 songs, I began Volume I in non-sequential fashion and was genuinely impressed. Titled ‘Mamacita’, this song from get-go is the child of electronic dance music as the singular thumping beat opens the song. 20 seconds into the song and more sounds come together without tarnishing the whole song with one too many elements. It is a playful song but the music surpasses the lyrical content. The heavy bass sound is its secret weapon. The song is about a relationship but almost like its built as a single for the charts. Had the lyrics been sharper, we’d have a genuine dope chart topper.

‘Nakhray’ is lighter, almost melancholic as it starts but nearly 20 second into the song, we are treated to a sounds like your garden variety Pitbull song. And that doesn’t mean this song is a copy. For that, I will have to force myself to listen to every Pitbull song and well, it’s a bit much. What I mean by Pitbull is that the same tempo, rhythm, flow – it almost feels like it has been heard before and from the artist we know and abhor as Pitbull.

‘Dance Kerain Saari Raati’ seems to have the same lyrical content, not literally but in one, there is askance of an emotion that is bothered by a loved one; in another its about someone bemoaning all the time. The musicality of the album is smarter than expected but the lyrical quality is such that you walk away wondering that this raw side of Umair Jaswal needed a chaperone who’d clean up the writing. Not everyone can write their own material and while the album’s enjoyable, it’s this lyrical lack of punch that makes you a bit uncertain about what the album’s real lasting quality is?

Umair Jaswal will embark on a major tour of Pakistan and this album will certainly get the audience grooving but will it go beyond and be heard for its wisdom or ideals? Nah, but maybe Umair isn’t going for a morose late night moody song. Maybe the purpose is to make people dance and this album can certainly do that. Glass half full?