Listen: Kapow!’s Neatly Wrapped Dynamic Debut LP Is a Sonic Delight

There isn’t one particular way to describe New Delhi band Kapow! as the group’s versatile sound and creativeness have no bounds. On their recently released eponymous six-track debut album, they offer fast-paced rock, acoustic ditties as well as saccharine pop. The band – who came together at Delhi Technological University – include vocalist Mayank Mittal, vocalist-guitarist Abuzar Khan, guitarist Vinod Arora, bassist Bharath Rajeevan and drummer Prakhar Srivastava.

Before work began on the record Srivastava tells us that the band had a “few lyrics, riffs and structures before we got together and those happened to evolve into songs as well.” According to Khan the recording process for the album was “exciting, frustrating, fun, a little edgy and exhausting, but most of all it was liberating.” Kapow! come across as a band that doesn’t take themselves too seriously with each member taking digs at one another at intervals (mostly aimed towards Arora’s height and Mittal’s heartbreak). Although what they do take seriously is their music which comes across as a sonic delight on their debut LP.

The album opens with the Wild West-inspired rock offering “Want Some Get Some” and moves to the band’s pop endearing tribute to substances on “Underwater Roadtrip.” Kapow! then get quite raunchy on the riff-heavy “Smells Like Your Sex” while the dreamy “Sultana” according to the band “is about a woman trying to break away from her daily life, to spread her wings and fly.” The sugary workout track “Cardio” includes everything from a catchy vocal hook, dancey elements and even a dhol led outro. The record closes with the melancholic heartbreak rock ballad “Start Again” which the band says is about “people with lives twining and tangling but never quite meeting.”

The band recorded the album at New Delhi’s Ferris Wheel Studios and SoulTrax Studios while sound engineers Kartikey Sharma, Arsh Sharma, Mukul Jain, Siddhant Bhatia and Rohit Singh Bhau assisted the group throughout the process. After showcasing the album in its entirety at their launch gig at Kitty Su in the capital earlier this month, the band plans for music videos with videographer Shikhar Verma next as well as a follow-up album for later this year. “There’s another song coming out as a bonus track called “Scooby-Doo Jackie Chan” in a couple of weeks, so there’s no rest,” says Mittal.

Listen to Kapow!’s self-titled debut album below: