It cannot get more apt than releasing an album titled ‘A World Gone Mad’ now. That’s exactly what Bengaluru-based rock band Thermal and a Quarter (TAAQ) have done — more by chance than by design, we suspect.
Surviving as a rock band in India for more than two decades is not easy; but TAAQ have traversed this journey spectacularly. Over the years, their music has seen several shades — from simple fun to satire to sarcasm, but this one seems to come from a place of great anger and frustration.
The thread of fury is visible in all the 10 songs in the album but nowhere more than in the track ‘Unbelong’. In these pandemic times, the track is quite literally #mood of the world. The lyrics speak of how no one belongs anywhere in this world — how we have built walls and broken bridges and the chimera that belonging really is.
Another hard-hitting number from the track is ‘Leaders of Men’. The single is more Blues than Rock and seems like something TAAQ are trying for the first time. But, first time or not, the track works and how! There is something ice and fire about the single — it speaks of the atrocities that have happened (and are happening) in the world and does so without shouting about it. It is furious yet cold; subtle yet harsh.
However, all is not doom and gloom about the album. Listen carefully and the songs do tell you that it might be a world gone mad, but it is our world where hope is still afloat.
Play By Ear showcases a potential earworm every week for you, the discerning listener, who is on the hunt for some musical serendipity.
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