Exclusive Stream: A Mutual Question’s Surging New Album ‘Connect’
The Mumbai prog/instrumental rock band level up on their third record
Mumbai instrumental rock band A Mutual Question. Photo: Abhishek Gupta
Personal and professional upheavals has led to Mumbai prog/instrumental rock band A Mutual Question‘s power-packed second album Connect, which releases via Pinecone Records on November 27th. You can now stream the album exclusively on Rolling Stone India.
Following their 2013 debut album Eyes Everywhere and the 2015 EP Strangeloop, A Mutual Question’s guitarist and songwriting duo Proteesh Ravi and Siddharth Chopra — along with drummer Naman Sachdev — say they wanted to tread on a much heavier path with the seven-track Connect. Armed with premium apps and plugins, the band draws from modern prog frontrunners such as Animals As Leaders, Periphery, Plini and more in their experiments. Ravi adds, “And as it turns out we also love ’em melodies so after a lot of tries and fails we found that what we were trying to achieve was possible through exploring alternate tuning.”
Right from their opening track “Hide” — also delivered with a slick animated video made by Dennis Tac and Harsh Jadhav — the intent on Connect is certainly much more melodic. While they retain their post-rock roots on songs like “Tranquil” and the title track, there’s rage but also soul, as heard in soaring lead solos.
Clearly a record that will stand out at live performances, A Mutual Question are biding their time at the moment due to the pandemic. Joined recently by bassist Abhinav Kumar, Chopra says they can’t wait to start playing live. There’s another music video in the works for the title track and a playthrough for the track “Quest” as well. “We are very excited for sharing these with fans and the world. Every song has its own clear identity and we can’t wait for everyone to hear them,” Chopra adds.
As they sit tight for the long wait (like most musicians), there’s other things planned out for A Mutual Question. Chopra says, “We are finishing up the recording for three new songs as part of an EP. The release date is still unclear but looks like it will be mid summer next year, around April 2021.”
Stream ‘Connect’ below. The album releases on all platforms on November 27th.
