The House Next Door/Aval – Music Review (Bollywood/Tamil Soundtrack)

Songs and complete credits at the end.

Composer Girishh Gopalakrishnan’s  short soundtrack for the movie is same in Hindi and Tamil barring one song (Telugu version Gruham uses the same tunes as Tamil, so haven’t reviewed that separately). The tune that differs between Hindi and Tamil is the only one that digresses from the movie’s central theme. I find the romantic composition more imaginative in Tamil (Kaarigai Kanne O Mere Sanam is a pleasantly engaging listen nevertheless. The soundscape is a familiar one, but Shakeel Azmi’s neatly written lines and Benny Dayal’s fantastic singing (have always maintained that the man’s skill at rendering melodic tracks is highly under used) make it worthwhile. Rest of the soundtrack is dark, in keeping with the plot. Ye Waqt Maut Ka Hai/Yaarada is aggressive in conveying the darkness, with dramatic interludes and menacing vocals from the singers (Suraj Jagan and Shilpa Natarajan in Hindi, Andrea Jeremiah and Mark Thomas in Tamil). It is in the other two tracks however that Girishh manages to really creep you out. In Xiao Xiao Ma the composer seemingly draws inspiration from the opening verse of Morning Mood from Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt. But with the time signature changed from 6/8 to 7/8 and with the sinister undertone, Girishh does a brilliant conversion of the happy, hopeful melody into a spooky lullaby! Accentuating the effect is the singing by Chen-Yu Maglin (who also wrote the Chinese lyrics) and Poorna M. The House Next Door/Aval Theme is short but incredibly effective, thanks largely to the splendid strings section of the FAME’s Macedonia Symphonic Orchestra that dominates the orchestral piece.

The House Next Door/Aval. Competent soundtrack from Girishh Gopalakrishnan where the composer’s skill shines through in the thematic pieces.

Music Aloud Rating: 3/5

Top Recos: Xiao Xiao Ma, The House Next Door Theme, O Mere Sanam/Kaarigai Kanne

The House Next Door review appeared first on the Mumbai edition of The Hindu.

Musician Credits

The House Next Door

‘Xiao Xiao Ma’
Singers: Chen Yu Mag-Lin, Poorna M
Lyrics: Chen Yu Mag-Lin
Opera Voices: Sangita Santosham and Vijay Chacko
Guitars, Guzheng: Girishh
String Arrangements and Additional Programming: Ramshanker
Score Preparation: Prasad
Orchestra: FAME’S — Macedonian Symphonic Orchestra
Conductor : Oleg Kondratenko Sound engineer : Giorgi Hristovski Pro Tools operator : Atanas Babaleski Stage Managers : Riste Trajkovski – Ilija Grkovski India Orchestra co-ordinator: Andrew T Mackay/Bohemia Junction Ltd.
Mixed by Vairavasan A
Mastered by Chris Athens
Special thanks to Alok Nayak, Milapfest
‘O Mere Sanam’
Composed and Produced by Girishh
Singer: Benny Dayal
Lyrics: Shakeel Azmi
Electric Guitar: Sabi T, Kevin Alex
Acoustic Guitar: Sabi T
Rhythm Programming: Girishh, Ramshanker, Ganesan Sekar
Synthesizers and Electronic Arrangements: Girishh
String Arrangements: Ramshanker
Score Preparation: Prasad
FAME’S — Macedonian Symphonic Orchestra

Conductor : Oleg Kondratenko Sound engineer : Giorgi Hristovski Pro Tools operator : Atanas Babaleski Stage Managers : Riste Trajkovski – Ilija Grkovski India Orchestra co-ordinator: Andrew T Mackay/Bohemia Junction Ltd.

Mixed by mishrasound.uk – Bhupinder Chaggar
Mastered by Chris Athens
Backing Vocals: Girishh
‘Ye Waqt’
Singer: Suraj Jagan, Shilpa Natarajan
Lyrics: Siddharth, Vayu Shrivastava
Electric Guitar: Sabi T
Rhythm Programming: Girishh, Ganesan Sekar, Ramshanker
Synthesizers and Electronic Arrangements: Ganesan Sekar, Girishh, Ramshanker
Opera singers: Sangita Santosham, Vijay Chacko
String Arrangements: Girishh
Score Preparation: Prasad

FAME’S — Macedonian Symphonic Orchestra

Conductor : Oleg Kondratenko Sound engineer : Giorgi Hristovski Pro Tools operator : Atanas Babaleski Stage Managers : Riste Trajkovski – Ilija Grkovski India Orchestra co-ordinator: Andrew T Mackay/Bohemia Junction Ltd.

Mixed by mishrasound.uk – Bhupinder Chaggar
Mastered by Chris Athens

Aval

‘Kaarigai Kanne’

Singers: Vijay Prakash and Shakthisree Gopalan
Lyrics: Muthamil
Piano: Anil Srinivasan
Guitars: Sabi T
Rhythm Programming: Ganesan Sekar and Girishh
Synthesizers and Electronic Arrangements: Girishh, Ramshanker S
String Arrangements: Ramshanker S
Harpsichord: Girishh
Mixed by Vairavasan A and Harish M
Mastered by Vairavasan A @ Soniq Grit Studios

‘Yaarada’

Singer: Andrea Jeremiah, Mark Thomas
Lyrics: Girishh, Muthamil
Electric Guitar: Sabi T
Rhythm Programming: Girishh, Ganesan Sekar, Ramshanker
Synthesizers and Electronic Arrangements: Ganesan Sekar, Girishh, Ramshanker
Opera singers: Sangita Santosham, Vijay Chacko
String Arrangements: Girishh
Score Preparation: Prasad
FAME’s Macedonian Symphonic Orchestra
Conductor : Oleg Kondratenko
Sound engineer : Giorgi Hristovski
Pro Tools operator : Atanas Babaleski
Stage Managers : Riste Trajkovski – Ilija Grkovski
India Orchestra co-ordinator: Andrew T Mackay/Bohemia Junction Ltd.
Mixed by mishrasound.uk – Bhupinder Chaggar
Mastered by Chris Athens

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