Music video and full credits at the end of the review.
The placid melody of Thukraaye is delivered very well by Vijay Prakash and Bianca Gomes, the former in particular with his classical nuances. In an arrangement that is as laidback as the song, Dhruv Ghanekar’s classical-tinged guitar solo in the second interlude stands out for its neat execution. Ananthaal also presents a Tamil version of the song, Manasellam Megham written by Mohanrajan (the Hindi version is written by Manoj Yadav). But for the lyrics and Vijay choosing to replace some of his short alaaps with notes, everything remains same and is as effective as Thukraaye. Quite liked the ending that Clinton gives the song(s) – Dhruv’s mellow, almost melancholic notes fading away into silence. Vijay’s classical improvisations make for an engaging fusion with the dominant jazz flavour of Kaare Badra that has Bianca and Clinton handling the Western vocals. Groovy arrangement here – Gino Banks on drums, Pozy Dhar on guitar and Sheldon D’Silva on bass ruling the set – before Gino’s father Louiz Banks steals their thunder with a blazing keyboard solo in the final minute.
Vijay Prakash is the star of the unhurried Aage as well, confidently handling the uncertainty-laden lyrics by Siddhant Kaushal, though Bianca Gomes does well on her part too. Clinton makes smart use of Vijay’s sargams during the interludes – presenting it in a vocoded format in the first one and with Embar Kannan’s violin beautifully shadowing his voice in the second one (abheri/bhimplasi raga in the latter case). Was hoping that there would be a solo show from Embar though. Paabandiyan is one of the album’s liveliest tracks, riding on an addictive groove and an interesting interplay of vocals from the three singers. Once again the interludes are brilliantly done, featuring an almost jazzy progression with the classical notes. Haal-e-Dil is another one that scores high on the liveliness aspect, thanks to an interesting rhythm and the jazz flavour, and engaging vocal harmonies throughout the song. I could be influenced by the video that accompanied the song when it came out a few weeks, but my favourite from Ananthaal’s debut album is Inayat. A song where each of the singers get their solo segments singing Shellee’s Punjabi lines before they all converge on the title hook. The song’s spiritual feel goes beautifully with the awe-inspiring landscape of Leh where the video is shot.
Impressive debut from Clinton Cerejo’s Ananthaal. Good to see a partnership that presumably came about due to Coke Studio at MTV three years back (at least that’s where I saw them perform together for the first time) progress beyond the show, into an independent and promising ensemble.
Top Recos: Inayat, Thukraaye, Paabandiyan, Aage
Full Credits
Inayat
Music: Clinton Cerejo & Ananthaal; Lyrics: ShelleeH
Haal-e-Dil
Music: Clinton Cerejo & Ananthaal; Lyrics: Amitabh Bhattacharya
Thukraaye
Music: Clinton Cerejo & Ananthaal; Lyrics: Manoj Yadav
Kaare Badra
Music: Clinton Cerejo & Ananthaal; Lyrics: Siddhant Kaushal
Aage
Music: Clinton Cerejo & Ananthaal; Lyrics: Siddhant Kaushal
Paabandiyan
Music: Clinton Cerejo & Ananthaal; Lyrics: Siddhant Kaushal
Manasellam Megham
Music: Clinton Cerejo & Ananthaal; Lyrics: Mohanrajan
Ananthaal are:
Clinton Cerejo – vocals, guitar, keys
Vijay Prakash – vocals
Bianca Gomes – vocals
The Band
Drums – Gino Banks
Bass – Sheldon D’Silva
Guitars – Pozy Dhar, Clinton Cerejo
Keyboards – Beven Fonseca, Clinton Cerejo
Guest Artists:
Guitar solo on Thukraaye – Dhruv Ghanekar
Keyboard solo on Kaare Badra – Louiz Banks
Violin solo on Aage – Embar Kannan
Produced and arranged by Clinton Cerejo
Additional production and guitars: Sachin Mitra
Recorded by Chinmay Harshe at ENZY studios, Mumbai
The Groove Room, Mumbai by Hemant Baral and Sachin Mitra
Gino’s Den, Mumbai by Kuber Sharma
Voice and Vision Studios, Chennai
Asst. Recording Engineer at ENZY Studios – Abhishek Sortey
Asst. Recording Engineer at Voice and Vision Studios – Lijesh Kumar
Studio Assistance at Groove Room – Avinash Khengle, Datta Shinde
Mixed at the Groove Room by Clinton Cerejo
Additional Mixing – Sachin Mitra and Hemant Baral
Inayat mastered by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound, NYC
All other tracks mastered by Tom Coyne at Sterling Sound, NYC
