Angad Berar 2020
A Broadcast, Underwater
Indian explorer of aural enigmas takes a dive into the cosmic uknown.
It’s one of those records that, at the start, seem intangible, ethereal even, yet unobtrusively, slowly but surely suck the listener in until they’re shrouded in sounds which got soaked into their very psyche. Hailing from Delhi, Angad Bernar should know the secret of such sonics all too well, and while the Yamuna river is hardly devoid of urban tumult, the composer can clear his mind to an extent where what may initially come across as serene and soporific will turn out to be filled with deep meaning and drama.
That’s why the otherworldly shuffle behind “A’tuin’n” unfolds into an epic drift through the dewdrops-marked space, befitting Pratchettian turtle, before its shimmering, albeit nebulous, noises usher in the delicate bass rumble of “Ode To The Sun” – caressed by ever-fluctuating guitar strum but prone to baring an occasional effervescent effect to keep the spectator focused. And if “Open Eyes Drowned” floats to the surface upon a subaquatic six-string filigree, the album’s finale “shh..tele’s zzz” ruptures this reverie via removing music from the aural picture – yet not until the epic “Mrs Lovewill Findaway” has oozed magnificent suspense. Still, the languid blues “Waltzin’withmisslazy” and the half-abstract mirage of “Heartbeatofatwig” are too worrisome to induce sleep – unlike “12.9716 77.5946 1.4.20” whose waves don’t bring forth any cosmic image.
However, it provides coordinates to allow fellow adventurers locate this brilliant album.
****
