For the uninitiated, Quaid Ahmed, singer-songwriter and composer, has several accomplishments to his name, even before he released his debut EP Sunlo – our point of discussion.

He’s worked on the sets of Pepsi Battle of the Bands in its revived second season; he is a key member of Sounds of Kolachi (SOK) and has appeared on Coke Studio season 11 as part of the band’s appearance.

While the first album of SOK, called Ilham, saw Ahsan Bari, who spearheads the group, doing the bulk of writing, the upcoming second album also has contributions from Quaid that go beyond the role of a singer, as confirmed by Ahsan Bari.

He was also a part of Paanch – The Mixtape as part of SOK and performed at the launch event as well.

In between presenting music from other emerging artists via his collaborative work with Laal Series, Quaid Ahmed – who announced his new EP – via a music video called ‘Shamein’ has lived up to his word and dropped a 5-track EP via Laal Series.

Featuring two songs with music videos (‘Sunlo’) and (‘Shamein’), Sunlo (the EP) is a work of heart, collaborations and is the beginning of an individual musical identity that Quaid Ahmed is carving for himself.

The release, marked by a listening session and followed by a performance by Quaid, was indicative of the fact that Quaid’s Sunlo – though collaborative - is the antithesis of SOK. And in this case it is a good thing.

“I woke up at the moment when the miracle occurred/Heard a song that made some sense out of the world...” - ‘The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)’ by U2.

Listening to Sunlo in pieces, a song here, a song there, would be unfair to the artist. To be truly fair, Sunlo should be heard as a whole. Only and only then the ideas behind it wouldn’t go through an erosion process, but will help in creating a cohesive image of the entire product; and in this case the product is the whole EP, not one or two singles. The respect for a body of work in the form of EPs and LPs is still meaningful even as the trend of singles has a stronghold on the musical ecosystem.

Our odyssey into the inner world of the artist begins with the first track on the EP – ‘Shamein’. Though this song was released earlier followed by a gap before the EP released, it feels like a minimalistic elegy. With a monochromatic music video, ‘Shamein’ is about admitting what resides inside the conscious and the conscience and letting it out for others to witness. The opening from guitar to beautiful piano lends itself to the song beautifully but the soundscape does get larger as the song continues. At the same time, there is an intimacy to the song which is further felt with its music video.

Then there’s the music video of the title of the EP, ‘Sunlo’ that came with the release of the EP. Though unlike ‘Shamein’ in terms of sound at first, there is cohesiveness to the audio of the two songs that ultimately connects.

‘Sunlo’ – the song – however carries with itself an audible identity as well as paradoxical as that sounds. While ‘Shamein’ is about opening up, ‘Sunlo’ is about asking others (perhaps) to admit what’s in the heart as well as about being heard. The song is expansive in terms of vocal delivery and is a perfect song in the record to come attached with the music video.

As Quaid Ahmed stretches his arms and sings while standing in a small boat, it feels like an ode to a higher love.

Meanwhile, the three music video-less tracks: ‘Jugnu’, ‘Kaun Hai’ and ‘PariNama’ fit within this EP.

The cosmic ‘Jugnu’ feels very much like a song about loneliness and finding the light while ‘Kaun Hai’ is akin to finding love and what comes along with it while ‘PariNama’ is the most playful song, while not knowing what to say what lives in the heart of the beloved.

A serious contributor to the EP is the enormously talented Ahsan Bari in various forms; other contributors include Shahid Rehman, Aziz Kazi, Hamzah Junaid, and Hassan Ali Effendi (director).

In the end, all I can say is the timing of the release could not have come at a better time. We’re living, not in a post-Covid-19 time as some would have you believe, but in the second year of the infectious virus that has led to an epidemic worldwide. Japan, for instance, has appointed a loneliness minister since suicide rates have jumped for the country that is already known for its high suicide statistics.

While Pakistan is not at that stage fortunately, as time passes by, more and more people have become fearful or completely oblivious but the jump in anxiety rates tells us that we need to resort to therapeutic ways, both orthodox and unorthodox. Studies show music has a direct correlation to reducing depression and anxiety. Sunlo has those therapeutic powers and for this reason, we’d highly recommend streaming it on one major platform or another, at least more than once to understand its healing powers and falling in love with an album that is deliberately not creating an EDM soundscape at a time when that is a global and local trend. It takes courage to not conform and Sunlo (the EP) is a courageous one.