Hear Faheem Abdullah’s Diverse Debut Album ‘Lost ; Found’
The Kashmiri artist’s upcoming 14-track album has previously delivered hits like ‘Ishq’ and brings in collaborators like Alif’s Mohammed Muneem, Parvaaz’s Khalid Ahamed, Zeeshaan Nabi, Pho and more
Kashmiri singer-songwriter Faheem Abdullah. Photo: Courtesy of the artist
Ahead of Kashmiri artist Faheem Abdullah’s debut album Lost ; Found coming out on May 25th, we’re streaming two new songs – the atmospheric, ode to his home “Kashmir” and the impassioned early 2000s rock-inspired “Khawab” featuring singer-songwriter Pho.
Abdullah has been working on the album for the last five months – comprising 14 songs that go back 12 years in the making. The first song from Lost ; Found was “Ishq” with Rauhan Malik which catapulted Abdullah into wider listenership. “We knew ‘Ishq’ would be a massy song that would be loved by the audiences the most, but we had no idea it would blow up. I was not ready for this,” he says over a video call.
He says there’s a loose thematic concept that runs through the album. “Lost ; Found could have been called Lost and Found, but we wanted it to be Lost ; Found because the semicolon is a tiny pause. There are certain songs which I’ve written in the state of [being] lost in my life and certain songs in the state of being in that semicolon, the point where you want to give up but then you don’t and you keep going, towards found and then there were certain songs which were written in the state where I was beginning to find myself,” he says.
Sonically, Abdullah didn’t want to be typecast into a specific sound with Lost ; Found. There’s the fully accessible pop of “Ishq” but also “Chak Chuk Blues” with Zeeshaan Nabi. One of the heartwarming things he heard about the album so far was about unpredictable versatility on show. Abdullah says, “Somebody told me, ‘This is the kind of versatility he’s showing right now and we don’t know what is going to come next in the album.’” To that end, there is still an upcoming song called “Parwan,” which Abdullah likens to the rawness of British singer-songwriter Ben Howard.
Other collaborators on the album include rock band Parvaaz’s Khalid Ahamed, rock act Alif’s Mohammad Muneem and more. “I wanted to bring everybody together. That was the whole idea of it, everybody together in one album, and representing us as a community,” Abdullah says.
It’s a fully Kashmiri album and Abdullah is aware that there’s still a lot of music from the region that doesn’t make it to “the mainland.” He says, “I believe the music made in Kashmir just doesn’t cross the mountains.” He points to how artists like himself as well as Ahamed, Muneem and Yawar Abdal are based out of major Indian cities to thrive. Abullah adds, “For me to find my audience, I had to step out.”
And he’s stepping out with his debut album fairly early on in his career – formally releasing songs since 2020 – so Abdullah is happy that he could satiate the storyteller in him through Lost ; Found. He adds, “The album is my whole heart on a platter. I’m just so excited for it.”
Listen to ‘Lost ; Found’ below.
