Strings

The overall sound of Pak band Strings’ new album Koi Aane Wala Hai is a bit of everything we might have heard across an array of international rock albums. John Abraham makes his production debut with his new venture John Abraham Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. co-producing this album with Sony. The cover, inspired of the Rorschach inkblot (used for criminal psychology), also redolent of Gnarls Barkley’s video for ‘Crazy’- aspires to amplify their rockstar appeal. The title track ”˜Koi Aane Wala Hai’ is the first video off the album to air on the telly. It’s claimed to be one of the most expensive videos to be produced in South Asia, shot on a high rise building in Malaysia with the celebrity quotient drawn in by Abraham as an angel with humungous wings but the effort is wasted. The video doesn’t save the song unlike the ones for their previous albums Door and Dhani.

Their second track ‘Humsafar’ might have done it for them featuring the guys simply playing atop a skyscraper in Mumbai. ”˜Humsafar’ starts with a Keane-ish ring on the keys and soft guitars but the song emerges a winner on KAWH. It’s a love ballad with the verses relying on Kapadia’s deep baritone which later sears into a throaty chorus. Maqsood has taken heavy detours on song writing and his guitar work isn’t what Strings is known for either.

The mistakes on this one would be ”˜Jago’ and ”˜Jub Se Tum Ko.’ The intro from ”˜Jago’ steers in a Deff Leppardish heavy drive and you’re not sure how Kapadia’s vocals would mould to this un-Strings-like composition. But the guitars halt to give way to a boyish voice sincerely crooning a poppy melody ”“ welcome the aspiring vocalist Maqsood. ‘Jub Say Tum Ko’ is completely off the Strings drift – Faisal’s mean vocal inflections hiss through the beginning to nail a wicked character. This track chases a very wannabe metal sound. Maqsood’s father the acclaimed poet Anwar Maqsood is accredited with the lyricist, but considering the lyrical genius he is heralded to be, Senior Maqsood delivers average verse.

It’s hard to pin down the tonality of this album. Strings has bought out a neat rock album which shall prove to local aspirants that one can achieve the sound of an international band without having to sing in English ”“ but they have failed to offer us originals.