Madmast, a Hindi-Urdu musical project from Mumbai, released a stunning single, Ae Dil, rich with lyrical content floating over riveting melodies and intricate musical arrangements.
Madmast’s delivery of their debut single, as well-refined and high-quality as Ae Dil, goes to showcase that every contributing member on the team has put their heart and soul into making this debut song an accomplishment to be proud of.
Ae Dil is rich with flourishing guitar, drums and dynamic production skills. Vaibhav Sharma’s comforting vocal delivery envelops the production in an infectious brightness that intriguingly contrasts with the heaviness of the song’s thoughtful theme. It’s a shining example of how impactful simplicity can be, through the peaceful ambiance of the track’s instrumentals with unapologetic songwriting and cinematic musical arrangement.
About the track, the band has said, “the song is a journey to find light, which is not at the end of the tunnel, it’s the light within ourselves. It’s about forgiveness and making peace with our past in order to be at peace today. It’s a dialogue that most of us have had with ourselves. It’s a prayer when times are tough, it’s a reassurance that it’ll be fine, eventually.”
What’s the band’s song writing process like?
Nishant – It depends, but it mostly starts with a melody idea that Vaibhav our vocalist has, he writes down some lyrics for the melody and then it’s shared with the band. Everyone then brainstorms on the idea and this is when a song starts to brew. Then with everyone’s collective input and a lot of working and reworking we fixate on a structure, we keep refining it and add finishing touches ultimately.
Saurav – Having said that, we have done songs which started as an instrument line and went through the above-mentioned process. An idea is all it needs, rest happens automatically.
Tell us about the experience of making your new song Ae Dil. Could you please elaborate on why you chose to write about constraints and liberation?
Keshav – Since the melody of Ae Dil was so simple, yet so breezy, the arrangement had to be done in a way that it retains the simplicity of the song, yet makes it sonically impactful. It took its own sweet time and a string of arrangement changes for us to get it to how it sounds now. We also worked very tenaciously on the production of the video and are glad that all our efforts turned out well.
Vaibhav – Mental health in today’s time is a topic that should not be avoided, as most who suffer from it don’t even realise that they do, and the social stigma attached to it just makes the situation worse. We wanted to do something for the cause through our music, to start a conversation to say the least and to bring comfort to people in these times of distress.
To specifically answer your question about writing about constraints and liberation, we think that we are all prisoners of our own mind and that liberation can only be internal. Help can be sought, but it’s only ourselves who can liberate our own selves; hence the lyrics are a vivid and contemplative monologue with one self.
What are your musical plans for say the next 6 months – concerts(offline/online), collabs, etc.
Anish – We hope and pray that live concerts will be back sooner than we can spell soon, but in the meanwhile we are open and willing to do all kinds of things to be able to reach out to the people who like what we do. We are now working on our next couple of releases, back to the drawing board as they say.
Vaibhav – The next 6 months should see us doing two more releases, and it’s been a long wait for us to be able to release our music, so we don’t want to hold back any further. We have a lot of music ready that we cannot wait to share with everyone, but we want to package and distribute it well for it to reach its right audience.
Know Madmast:
Madmast was formed in 2017 and the band members consist of Nishant Nair, Keshav Parthasarathy, Vaibhav Sharma, Saurav Dutta, Anish Nair.
The band draws inspirations from all kinds of music, be it Hindustani Classical, Folk, Rock, Blues, Funk, Pop or Film music. They have successfully recorded an 8-song album called ‘Gumshuda ki Talaash’, that is slated to release across 2021-22. Their songs surpass the norms of Genre, and show massive promise in terms of variety and experimentation.
The music of Madmast is aimed to create a holistic musical experience for the listener, and hence each word, and each musical embellishment has been woven with utmost care and a whole lot of love. The music makes the listener think, reflect and most importantly feel.
Hyperlink: https://linktr.ee/madmast
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