Artist: Spook
Album: Lyrical Cynic
Label: Independent
Mixed and Mastered by: Zorran Mendonsa
Release Date: 9th April, 2013
ReverbNation | Bandcamp | Ok Listen
Coming from the city of Mumbai, Spook started as a fun cover band. Until things got serious and they got new members and then gigs and then released and EP and then more gigs and then released an album….and probably they will be playing more gigs. Taking influences from the likes of Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Goo Goo Dolls, Alice in Chains and Foo Fighters; this Alternate-Pop/Rock band from Mumbai has a unique sound that can certainly make you groove to their music in no time.
Spook are:
Akshay Deodhar – Guitar / Vocals
Anis Gandhi – Keyboard
Wilson Kenneth – Bass Guitar
Micheal Lee – Guitars
Yohan Marshall – Drums
The album is a nice mix of some easy listening music. With a runtime of just about 50 minutes, Spook have created what can be called a near perfect record. Certainly the best album I have heard this year and you would agree to my views when you listen to the tracks. The sound can be broadly classified as typical Soft Rock with nicely blended Blues at times. In their EP, Spook had a sort of dependency on the keyboards and at times the violin. Some of that can be seen here, not much of the violin except a mind blowing violin solo in Tainted Soul. The keyboards create a nice ambience and the music along with it obviously doesn’t disappoint. The fact that the bass is kept higher in the final mix adds to the ambient environment and to the joy of listening to the tracks.
Songs like Crayons and I’ll Decide have really nice soulful chorus parts. Akshay’s vocals are tailor-made for this genre. The album also has a couple of lovely ballads – Musings and Tainted Soul. Musing certainly has the best guitar solo in the album, while Tainted Soul enchants you with the amazing piano backing and the violin solo later on. Another song worth mentioning is Morning Coffee. The female vocals add a totally new dimension to the music; very groovy and pretty soothing music. Staying true to the Alternative tag, Vice and Stop Start are two songs to look forward to. Vice has some nice bass lines and perfect vocals for the work; while Stop Start has a heavier music and a faster tempo. For some reason 4:00 in Vice reminded me of Master of Puppets by Metallica, must be the weirdest coincidence till date 😀
Mixing and post production has been great in the album. Every instrument was given a proper exposure and proper space; though I felt that the bass should have been kept a little lower in Stop Start, as at times it was overshadowing the guitars. If the bass deserves a mention, so does the drums; pretty tight drumming throughout the album. Musings is the best example of that. Overall, this is a great record. A must buy in my opinion.
My top three from the album –
- Tainted Soul
- Morning Coffee
- Crayons
