Easily one of the better Indian indie projects, Shaa’ir + Func tunes one into a more au courant sonic experience. The duo’s sound ”“ a spinning doozy chiselled out of electro-dance rock, trip-hop, industrial noise and sonic contradictions et al ”“ drives a healthy madness on the record. The outfit’s first two albums New Day: The Love Album and Light Tribe kept things fresh, packing in requisite spunk, contemporaneous grooves, infectious hooks, hard hitting riffs and crisp verse tempered by their feisty attitude. While their third album, Mantis, retains most of these qualities, the pieces don’t fit seamlessly and the effort seems relatively slack. The album strikes a rather mediocre and, at times, confused note. Some inviting melodies (”˜Everytime You’re Around’ and ”˜Prophecy’) and dance gems (”˜My Roots’ and ”˜Sexy Scam’) lie here. ”˜My Roots,’ which pounds strong with the stand-out dhol phrasing of a Ganesh Chathurthi street procession, makes for the most promising track on record. The ethereal flute sections and whirling samples on ”˜Prophecy’ work a delicate mix. But in places the record gets simply ear boggling, and not in a creatively exciting way. At times, the absurdly busy soundscape and deviant time structures overwhelm songs that fail to engage. For instance on ”˜Freeze You,’ a slinky jazz-singed hook is recklessly fed untoward electro monstrosities. While Monica Dogra pens some worthy verse, the sound of the album pulls the attention away from the words ”“ very rarely does one find oneself singing along. Dogra sometimes  stylistically evokes Ani Difranco, like on ”˜Take it Personally,’  (“I want to write something about love this time, I am sick of being this angry poetess”) but it comes across as a tad pretentious. On the whole Mantis traps flashes of promise and a few moments of glory, but it fails to engineer fine symmetry and neatly tie in the vibrant elements sans loose ends.
Key Tracks: ”˜Roots,’ ”˜Prophecy’
