ALBUM PROFILE

The first introduction

When music group Kashmir first appeared on Pepsi Battle of the Bands (PBOTB) last year and made it past the audition stage, the six member music outfit featuring Bilal Ali (vocals), Usman Siddiqui (bass), Ali Raza (piano/synth), Zair Zaki (rhythm guitars), Vais Khan (lead guitars) and Shane J. Anthoney (drums) went on to deliver extraordinary covers and stunning original songs while gaining a national profile. Their victory on Pepsi was well-deserved.

And though the band maintains that it is their lead guitarist who is the crowd-puller, in my opinion their real trump card, not-so-secret weapon is vocalist Bilal Ali. There is something about the way he sings, putting so much of himself in each song, that you can’t help but be impressed and moved. A soulful singer sounds like a cliché but he definitely is one.

A case in point is Kashmir’s cover of Amir Zaki’s ‘Mera Pyar’ that they performed on PBOTB last year. It is perhaps one of the greatest cover songs to have emerged from the music scene in years. The late Zaki would’ve been proud.

We also know by now that though their sound is not ‘groundbreaking’, it is pleasant enough to be enjoyed and falls in the alternative rock side, if you were looking to label it. It also needs to be said that their songwriting ability has a storytelling component that has given them an edge over plenty of other acts. They’re sound shows that though they are not inspired by any one genre and they take a little something from everything to create something else that is entirely their own.

During Pepsi Battle of the Bands, Kashmir performed not just covers but also presented a number of riveting originals, with the latter having made it to their debut album, which was released alongside Badnaam’s record (the runner-up group) at a prominent event last month.

As for the debut album, technically it doesn’t contain too many new songs. As the band revealed in one interview, of the three songs ‘Khwab’ is not entirely new since a version of it was first released in 2013, a year after Kashmir was originally formed. But since a lot has changed for the band itself and given their arrival from obscurity to popularity and the album version being produced by Zulfiqar Jabbar Khan, better known as Xulfi, I’m looking at it from a brand new perspective.

‘Khwab’ is the darkest song and also the most introspective of the lot. The storytelling component found in the lyrical content on their appearance on PBOTB is alive and well. As for the perspective, it is of a person wondering where he is lost, the solution that he cannot find even in his dreams and what is it in memories that he is trying to understand. It’s the kind of song that Bilal Ali was born to sing because he gives it all and it works beautifully.

The opening is very Bon Iver, quiet guitars, if you may, but the entire unit keeps up with the haunting mood of the song by not overplaying their instruments and the playing five understand what roles they have, what the guitars should be doing and what the keyboards needs to be at. The aggressive riffs also make for a good surprise that appear after the three-minute mark but do not dominate the song. The decision to slow down to haunting vocals to an almost whisper before letting all the instruments take off is also smart because again, on a song like this, you don’t see it coming and that unpredictability is worth applauding.

The second single, ‘Pareshaniyan’, also produced by Xulfi, opens with the most gorgeous bass and enters that happy-hum-your-head-space because unlike ‘Khwab’ it’s got a much more positive outlook with a realization that though troubles of the worst sort will come your way but you do not let them rule your self. The entire band, once again, backs up the mood with a sonic structure that feels as light as Bilal’s demand, which is asking you to embrace optimism even in the face of darkness.

The third track on the album, the one that fetched the group a standing ovation on Pepsi last year as well as a Lux Style Award nomination and victory this year, is ‘Kaghaz Ka Jahaz’ and it is to date their strongest song. Playful, cheeky, sarcastic, it’s got the goods and takes you in a sonic space that you didn’t think could exist.

The only issue here is calling this the release of Kashmir’s debut album. Because, as is the norm now, the band has put out only three tracks with plans to put out at minimum, three more. All of this makes this release Kashmir’s first official EP, and not a full-length record, which is somewhat disappearing from the mainstream barring artists like Strings who are planning to put out at least eight songs from their upcoming album, 30.

This is not Kashmir’s fault so much as a marketing tactic gone wrong. The good news is that Kashmir has plenty of original songs including ‘Soch’, ‘Parwana Hun’, ‘Faislay’ and ‘Buddha Baba’ which they performed on Pepsi circa 2017. You can also find Kashmir songs such as ‘Sab Saath Chalain’ (backed by a recent music video) and ‘Rani-e-Kashmir’ on their SoundCloud page as well.

How many of those Pepsi originals will make it to the final EP remains to be seen but the band is planning to put out a music video for ‘Kaghaz Ka Jahaz’ on Eid. This will be followed by a release every week, with six songs in total making up the EP or as they say, the album. Some of these songs will get their own music videos too. For now though, download and/or stream these three tracks and marvel at the power of this incredibly surprising music outfit from Karachi and their gorgeous songs. It is no wonder that they won over fans across the country and were crowned champion on the music competition that is Pepsi Battle of the Bands.

- Image courtesy:

Lahore Music Meet 2018