Artist: Allegro Fudge
Album: Maximum City
Release Date: May 29th 2011
Mixed and Mastered by: Jason Zachariah
Label: Unsigned
Allegro is Italian for ‘cheerful’ or ‘merry’, and fudge is a yummy dessert made by mixing together a variety of ingredients. So Allegro Fudge could literally mean a lively and uplifting mash-up of a variety of techniques and sounds. Their music contains elements of pop, funk, folk, country, blues, jazz, progressive, rock and even Celtic, which makes it difficult to put it one specific genre. The band lists Dream Theater, Eric Clapton, Jaco Pastorius, Muse, Rush, Deep Purple, Pentagram, The Raghu Dixit Project, Dave Matthews Band, Dire Straits, Mozart and Elton John as its musical influences, yet sounds very little like them. They themselves prefer not to classify themselves as a particular genre, instead preferring music that is inspired from people and events around them. Unlike most bands, where the drums are the lifeblood, Allegro Fudge relies heavily on keys for percussion. Formed in 2007 by keyboardist Jason Zachariah and Joey Sharma, the band has had quite a few changes in the line-up over the years.
The present line-up consists of – Jason Zachariah (Keyboards), Saahas Patil (Vocals), Shalini Mohan (Bass) and Anish Nadh (Guitars).
The band’s debut album, Maximum City, is a celebration of everyday life, influenced by Bangalore, the city they call home (the album artwork features a stretch of MG Road), and their immediate surroundings. The 56 minute album with 9 tracks is dominated by piano riffs; Jason has magic in his fingers and I guess the band didn’t want to let that go to waste! Also noteworthy is the brilliant vocal co-ordination of the various members, and clean, fresh music that you would give a second listen. Ideally, I would recommend a rainy day and hot chocolate to go with this (:D). The first track, ‘Adrift’, was one of the first songs written by the new line-up in 2010. It was inspired by the movie ‘The Soloist’, featuring the schizophrenic musician Nathaniel Ayers. This track sets the mood for the rest of the album, with the beginning, and the clean vocals are amazing. Meaningful lyrics (“Shut this open door to the growing darkness that leads my step astray”) talk about a man’s lonely journey to fulfillment of dreams. Up next is ‘Day Dreamer’, a pop rock song talking about the endless and ever-present dreams of youngsters. At number three we have ‘Colors Fly’, an upbeat, optimistic song, with lovely piano flourishes and encouraging lyrics (“If they could see the world through your eyes, you’re a diamond in the darkness, waiting to shine”). I could imagine myself dancing to this one! ‘Far Away’ was originally written by Noella D’sa, the previous vocalist, and redone later by the present line-up. I personally feel that this particular song could have done without the extra percussion beats, as it’s a dark story about a woman trying to break free from an abusive relationship (“Her happy dreams a lifeless misery… Her mind is free but her hands are tied”). The fifth track is ‘Enchantress and the Hillbillies’, the only instrumental track of the album. Jason unleashes all of his magic in this one, structuring the piano chords around the opening guitar riffs with a fabulous end result. This could be one of my two favourite tracks of the album. Next we have ‘Waiting’, a country number with blues elements. The song has a relaxed feel to it, which is a nice deviation from the overall tempo of the album. Again, the vocal co-ordination is very pleasing to the ear! At number seven, ‘Hear Them Say’ is as country as the band goes, with a “Yee-haw!” thrown in with the guitar twangs. There are a whole lot of guitar, piano and drum solos, which may get a little overwhelming towards the end. This brings me to the next track of the album, and this is my other favourite pick of the album. ‘City of Sin’ is structured mainly around the theme of temptation; although the song starts off in a jazzy funky style, it features a darker, more ambient interlude, with sassy lyrics (“So once again the evening turns to night/ She slams the phone down, another pointless fight/ Turns up the music loud to get him off her mind/ Calls up a girlfriend, says Let’s get drunk tonight!”). The ninth track is ‘Rock All Night’, which, as the name suggests, is a rock number, with a little jazz thrown in. The tempo change is very interesting, without breaking the actual thread of the song, and the heady bass and suggestive lyrics make this a winner. The next track, ‘Eye to Eye’, is a progressive funk rock number with an odd time signature. The bass is good throughout, and the drum solo at the end is amazing! The eleventh and last track is the title track; starting off with a guitar riff which almost sounds like a sarod, this song is a tribute to Bangalore, the city that the band calls home. ‘Maximum City’ is an acoustic rock number, and talks about the inevitable changes that the city has gone through over the years.
Overall, Allegro Fudge has done an outstanding job with its debut album. With excellent vocal co-ordination and the magical piano, they’ve created fresh and meaningful songs, without having to depend on drums for the most part. I’d keep an eye out for their next one, for sure.
- Colors Fly (Music Video)
- Hear Them Say (Music Video)
- Time After Time by Cindy Lauper (Cover)
- Yellow by Coldplay (Cover)
- Live Gig at UB City
