......says Gaurav Raina of the Midival Punditz on going the audio-visual way for their latest album
Midival Punditz comprising of Gaurav Raina and Tapan Raj are gearing for the release of their fourth album titled Light. This is their first performance based, concept-record with specially developed visuals to complement each song promising to be an audio-visual treat for the audiences. Their previous albums include self-titled debut album in 2002, Midival Times in 2005, and Hello Hello in 2009. We spoke to Gaurav on their latest offering.
Going the audio-visual route
“We’ve been working on Light since the past two years. It’s been a slow and steady process working on this performance based album, doing collaborations, ideation, working in the studio, etc. Light has nine tracks and can be described as electronic meets Indian folk in a cinematic and larger than life context,” says Gaurav.
What prompted them to make Light into an audio-visual format? “Live shows are highly popular. Gone are the days when people would listen to music on CDs in their homes. Today, a major amount of music consumption is happening at live shows. And that’s why we decided to make the album in a full live show format.
On collaborations
For the album, Midival Punditz has collaborated with a number of artistes like flautist and Rajasthani folk stalwart Kutle Khan, Pandit Ajay Prasanna, American producer Todd Michaelsen, Papon, Hindustani Classical singer Malini Awasthi, Baiju Dharmajan, Drummer Shardul Mehta, Karan Malik, and Karan Sharma. Some collaborations happend on the spur of the moment and some planned. On their collaboration wishlist lies Zakir Hussain and Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt.
Sound of music
Some of the songs on their album including Don’t Let Go has Gaurav singing alongside Todd Michaelsen. It’s a happy positive track dedicated to a late friend of the Midival Punditz. The opening track Run is an instrumental-electronic track setting the mood of the album. Rushing has the duo collaborate with Baiju Dharmajan and has a Carnatic folk with electric guitar, along with drum n’ bass and jazz influence with a bit of Pink Floyd feel.
Way forward
Raina and Tapan plan to spent the remainder of 2015 promoting the record, especially in the festival season. Besides that, they have couple of side projects like working on dance pieces and documentaries.
Light will see a release on April 28.
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