I’m not a person who sticks to one album for the entire day, listening to it over and over, all week long.
I’m usually the kind of person who mixes up songs from various albums, according to the mood. And I usually listen to metal.
Never did I think that I’d get so engrossed to “Uttoron” in such a way, that I won't listen to any other music (ignoring my favorite genre too), since the past one week, when Tamal gave me a sneak peek to his new album.
An album that contains beautiful and catchy melodies, with thoughtful lyrics and stunningly awesome vocals, it’s hard to believe that such excellence is so rare nowadays.
I had less knowledge of Tamal’s music, having listened to him just once at Bandish this year. Which I loved. So, I had less idea of what to expect from this album.
But when I was looking at the tracklist of the album, I discovered an intriguing list of song titles, such as, “Etoi ki Kothin”, “Madhyajug”, and “Lore Jai”, along with the title track “Uttoron”.
The song titles clearly suggested that this album is not about some hunky-dory love affair, which is so common nowadays.
"You want to become a popular artist, write a love song."
Rather, the songs suggested that the album is about - the society we live in, the common man, and their daily struggles. Their ups and downs, their pain and happiness. Their choices in life.
Even before listening to the songs, the titles suggested that this album is full of content.
Now it was time to explore the music!
To be honest, I was a bit skeptical about the sound and thought that after one listens to the entire album, I’d just move back to my usual setlist on Spotify.
But, as I mentioned at the start, I didn’t imagine that the album would leave such an impact that I'd continue listening to it all day long. I momentarily hated my self for my preconceived notion.
Lyrically, this album is super deep, and realistic, with beautiful compositions of all the songs; and with flawless production.
Let’s first talk about the production, which is completely curated by Tamal.
In one word, it’s world-class!
He has produced one youtube video, that has all the tracks from the album. And right from the first song, till the end, the quality of each track was maintained.
If you listen to tracks, which you eventually will, by the end of this article, you’ll see how much effort has been put to bring out this gem of an album.
The Album Art
Talking about the album art, some people might find it difficult to understand, because it is not your usual album art.
However, in my opinion, there couldn’t have been a better one. It goes so well with the lyrics of the songs and what the album wants to portray.
The album art shows a humanoid (half-human, half-machine).
That’s exactly what Tamal wants to convey with his songs in this album - how we are selling off our souls to new technology and machines, and forgetting basic human emotions.
And that’s the best part of this album. Everything in this album, makes you THINK!
Uttoron
This is the title track of the album. And my favorite track as well.
The song starts slow with deep lyrics, talking about one's struggles in life, and how that person is living his darkest days, and then all of a sudden it progresses to a faster tempo.
The progressions are subtle and there are quite a few progressive sequences in this song.
The main objective of this song is to portray the transformation we are going through in our lives because of the excessive use of machines.
We are transforming into robots. And our emotional balance is getting impacted, resulting in an unsatisfied life.
This song gives a realistic view of the direction in which the humankind is heading towards.
Etoi ki Kothin
Simple living, high thinking - is a lost sentence nowadays.
And that’s exactly what this song revolves around.
How we are victims of the “shiny object syndrome”, that we forget what’s truly important, and what’re the distractions in our lives.
The way we are getting influenced by the “shiny objects” is via technology, starting with the stupid box, a.k.a the Television, and going on to the smartphones and computers.
Our world is just confined to what we see on the television, or on various social networks. Our brain’s thinking power is diminishing gradually, as we have stopped exploring things on our own.
This information overload from everything that we come across in today’s daily routine is very harmful and makes us lose focus from our goal.
And surprisingly, people are ok with that.
They are ok to live a life that has no depth but has a very glamorous social outlook.
This song encourages us to live a simple life rather than getting bogged down with technology or getting crippled by the social status that they want to portray.
The musical arrangement is just top-notch, and the melody is heart-melting.
The lyrics and the music together instantly connects with you, and somewhat (if not completely) makes you question some of your choices that’s hurting you to live a life of fulfillment.
Madhyajug
Lyrically this is my favorite song. I’ll tell you why.
This one paints the real picture of what we are witnessing nowadays.
We have progressed a lot in terms of technology, but on a larger scale technology has hampered out thinking capacity.
It has made us extremely judgemental and has given rise to a lot of unnecessary fights, clashes, and riots.
People have forgotten the real meaning of education, even though there are way more "educated people" in numbers right now.
With the rise of Social and Digital media, it has become easier to influence people and their communities, and make them fight against one another.
This is the current situation we are facing in this “Madhyajug” and the song very nicely depicts that.
The music gels really well with the lyrics of the song, giving it a dark outlook.
Lore Jai
This is the final song in the list, and the perfect one to follow “Madhyajug”.
This song questions the so-called “intellectual” people who turn a blind eye to all the wrong things that are happening around us.
They have this “not my problem” attitude; but if you look closely enough, the world we are living in right now is everyone's problem.
The destruction that’s going on currently in the name of religion and nationalism is scary.
The destruction of the environment that’s occurring because of power-hungry corporations that are building factories after factories is scary.
The air is getting polluted, and people are chopping down trees. The water is getting contaminated and the factories are dumping wastes.
And what are we doing to stop this, apart from being “keyboard warriors” on Social Media?
It has become a norm to project yourself as a “hero” on social media by sympathizing with the situation, but not take any physical action to stop them.
"Lore Jai" appeals to all of us to wake up, and raise our voices, and fight against this destruction of our society and Mother Nature, so that we leave this world as a better place for our future generations.
Conclusion
This is a heavy album. This is an honest album in every sense; the effort, the production, the music, and the lyrics, all of it.
The songs are sequenced in a way so that you can relate to the start of this transformation that us humans are going through.
And then how that transformation is leading to all the chaos and driving us away from a simple, happy life.
Finally, the album appeals to us to take action to make things better for our future generations, with the song “Lore Jai”.
From the music point of view, it has a progressive dark touch with catchy melodies.
Tamal has put in a lot of effort to create this, and it’s evident from the thoughtful lyrics, the compositions, and the flawless production.
It’s high time that we do a reality check, and take action accordingly. And this album will clearly help you do that, and push you towards a better life!
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