Blakc Are Back

After the release of their third album, The Consequence of Feeling in 2018, Mumbai rockers Blakc continued to play shows the following year to support the record. However, once the pandemic hit, the band members – vocalist Shawn Pereira, guitarists Anish Menon and Reinhardt Dias, bassist Sourya Mukherjee and drummer Varun Sood – found themselves in different cities. To the band’s good luck, they had already completed recording a major chunk of their just-released four-track EP What is Time.

Dias says, “We were able to get our core rhythm section recorded [before the pandemic].” According to the band, they went into the studio with the idea of just recording their crunchy song “Redefine” as a single. The guitarist adds, “Shawn kind of took a leap forward and convinced the band to record four songs while we were tracking ‘Redefine’ in the one day and night we were at the studio.”

Without much time to think about parts, the group adopted a more spontaneous approach to their writing, something they found refreshing after writing and rewriting The Consequence of Feeling. While What is Time marks the first time Blakc have released an EP, it also points the group into more of an organic songwriting approach. “Simplifying what we are doing with our instruments to serve the song has more or less been our approach to our newer songs and our newer sound,” says Dias.

The EP opens with the soaring “In Green,” in which Pereira ruminates about living life to create moments, art or whatever makes you happy with no limits to time. “Redefine” touches upon duality in feelings. On the gritty “The Cypher,” the vocalist sings about ignoring opinions and having the courage to stand your ground. He says, “[It’s] about being patient but driven, kind of like the band.” What is Time closes with the freeing rocker “Solace.” “The physical and mental want to be metaphorically where the grass is greener, that’s what ‘Solace’ is about,” says Pereira.

While the band does venture into newer sonic territories on What is Time, they do still, however, retain their quintessential sound. There’s groovy and thumping drums, pumping bass parts, full-throttle guitar riffage and solos as well as steely vocals.

Blakc tracked drums, bass and rhythm guitar for the EP at Mumbai’s Bay Owl Studios. Once restrictions on the lockdown were lifted, the group applied overdubs, guitar parts and vocals to the songs. Dias says, “I had enough time to put the mix and master together as I was prepping for the production of this EP from day one of the recording itself.”

With a music video already out for “The Cypher,” the band wants to also play a couple of small shows to promote the EP as long as it is safe to do so and are also considering a livestream set. As they continue to work on new music and load up the next batch of songs, Dias says, “We certainly hope to play live again and give people the experience of our music in person but we cannot control the chaos of the world around us right now and so we’re just taking it easy and doing what comes naturally to us and just making more music.”

Watch the music video for “The Cypher” below and stream the EP here.