Album Review: Dualist Inquiry – Doppelganger

Dualist Inquiry. Photo: Paroma Mukherjee

[easyreview cat1title= “Doppelganger” cat1rating= 3]

With his 2010 debut EP Dualism, Sahej Bakshi, who goes by the his stage moniker Dualist Inquiry, won over the Indian dancergoers’ playlist by working his guitar to easy-listening, lo-fi drop beats. This time, the Delhi-based artist goes a step further to include flashes of violin and xylophone to his moody mix that shares little with the commercial beats that have come to represent EDM.

His nine-track debut, Doppelganger is not an album that will tear the dancefloor apart. Instead, its ambient tracks which oscillate from dream-like [“6am”, “Soliel”] to fuzzy [“Anathema”], head bobbing [“One More Thing”] to bompity club beats [“Origin”, “Blitzkerg”], are best reserved for a breezy midday listen.  At club nights, Doppelganger’s chillout party music is one that is most likely to incite the ubiquitous EDM hand-heart gesture from fans.

However, the album’s resemblance to Dualism is unmistakable, making listeners believe they’ve heard it all before. Most tracks are characteristic Dualist Inquiry ”“ polished and clean. But this is not to say that the electronica artist doesn’t offer anything new”” there is the bouncy glitch hop beginning to “Specter”, a cracker opener where drop beats laser through the tempo; there’s also “Blitzkrieg,” where vocoded vocals ala Daft Punk warrant multiple listens. However, Doppelganger barely hints upon a different side of Bakshi and is far from revealing his double in the true sense. But we’re not ready to dismiss him as yet.
 
Key tracks: “Isoterra”, “Spectre” and “Soliel”