Spook Release Second Album, ‘Lyrical Cynic’

Mumbai band Spook

Bands seem to be pulling out all stops to stand out, but there’s a fine line between improvisation and gimmickry. Those who attend Mumbai band Spook’s album launch gig tonight can expect to see its members in ski masks and capes and decide for themselves which category the stage look falls into. Says frontman and vocalist Akshay Deodhar, “We wanted to do something different, not ad hoc but something whacked. Since there was no Friday the 13th in sight, we decided to go for a spooky theme for our launch anyway.”

Spook, which has gone through multiple lineup changes, featuring Anis Gandhi [keys and vocals] and Deodhar as constants, now comprises Yohan Marshall on drums, former alt/funk rock band Aftertaste’s Michael Lee on guitar and alternative rock band Slow Down Clown’s Wilson Kenneth [who also co-produced the album] on bass. The band finds darker, alt rock leanings in their second album, Lyrical Cynic. “Morning Coffee”, which features vocalist Malini Hariharan, is in fact the only song on the eight-track album that goes back to their pop rock days.

Lyrical Cynic was partially crowdfunded and features a host of collaborators such as Sankarshan Kini on the violin and Slow Down Clown’s Anurag Shankar on guitars. “Lyrical Cynic talks about how the band has grown,” says Deodhar about the album that features songs about “ex-girlfriends, bipolar personalities of women, sadism-masochism and peace through coffee” among other themes. “The humor is twisted and is brought out in subtle, weird ways,” adds the vocalist.

Tonight, Deodhar’s band will be joined by Shankar, Hariharan and Narayanan Nambudripad as Spook perform their newest release in entirety. “We will also play four songs from our debut EP [Underwaterseabird – 2010] and covers of songs by Kings of Leon and Goo Goo Dolls. The third cover will be a surprise,” he says.