Parekh & Singh Capture Magic Realism on ‘The Night Is Clear’

For a duo who have spent two albums geeking out on all kinds of science-y concepts like neurosurgery and also dug into stories of love, Parekh & Singh come face to face with difficult life scenarios on their latest album The Night Is Clear. Vocalist, guitarist and producer Nischay Parekh sings in a distinctly different tone on “Bedouin” – “Oh god, not again/I thought I was independent/But I’m just another descendant.”

Elsewhere, on “Seven Days,” Parekh is talking about his relationship with his parents – “And I fake my happiness/ To be the joyous one.” There are parts where the artist voices his anxieties and muses over his imperfections and what happens when you don’t want to take helpful advice. The closing track “The Nightingale” is especially poignant, in which the duo weave in slow synths to draw attention to how they’re always trying to find their way in a prescriptive age, even if that means being solitary.

For songs of alienation, introspection and solitariness, there’s still a lot that’s relatable on The Night Is Clear, which pulls together material written before and during the pandemic between Parekh in Dubai and Singh in Kolkata and other parts of the country.

Inspired by the literary works such as The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien, the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling and Frank Herbert’s Dune, Parekh notes that there’s a fantasy fiction and mythology shade to The Night Is Clear. In one sense, every song is like a story that’s part of a larger book. “In our experience, long-form novels tend to lend themselves to more detail, and more nuance and more texture. With a film or a song, you have two hours or two minutes, you know? But with a novel or with the written word, you have basically as long as you need or as long as you want,” Parekh says.

The other big change for the duo was not always leading with lyrics first. In fact, Parekh and Singh wrote specific arrangements for English horn and flute (performed by Ashley Jarmack), oboe and a string quartet of violin, viola and cello (by Luke Moller). Parekh says, “It was limiting but I was writing from a more academic kind of standpoint. Before, we were always chasing the sound first.”

Their experiments led to groovy songs like “C C C” and the catchy lead single “Sleepyhead.” On “Seven Days,” Singh even adds in tabla parts, which Parekh says came about in a moment of unspoken understanding between the duo. In all, it makes The Night Is Clear an openhearted record that remains in the same sonic galaxy as previous Parekh & Singh releases, but also wanders into different terrains to talk about discomforts and triumphs alike.

The duo have so far launched the album in Mumbai on October 9th and are going to play a homecoming couple of gigs in Kolkata on October 14th and 15th. That’s followed by a set in Hyderabad on October 30th and festival set at Bacardi NH7 Weekender in Pune on November 26th. Shows in New Delhi and Bengaluru are also upcoming.