Kot opens the album spectacularly – Joi’s Western rock influences are nuanced and classy; never blatant. The extended orchestration that kicks-in three fourth into the song and ends with that superb guitar notes…wonderful touch, that! Aikon baikon, the song from the video doing the rounds on YouTube is instantly and immensely catchy – the riffs are perfect and the singing, brilliant! Dusoku melute works on a similar level – the vocals by Joi are highly engaging even as the arrangements are consistently adept. Tumi bhaabisa ki has generous dollops of Amit Trivedi, but with a far less filmy mix and seems more authentic rock’ish, given this is a non-film album. Uri jaai‘s mellow opening paves way to a scintillating chorus portion and the song builds on it wonderfully well. Tejimolaa, featuring Lynton on piano, and Tumi are the most massy tracks in this album…almost filmy – they hold gorgeous tunes however and the former uses that piano backdrop expertly. Doba kobaai ends the album on a high – restless, pulsating rock. Joi’s debut album is incredibly promising – here’s an Indian pop artist who sings in his mother tongue, like Raghu Dixit, and makes them appeal far beyond language barriers! Bravo!
Keywords: Joi Barua, Looking out of the window, #200
Note 1: While I’m thrilled to bits about how thoroughly enjoyable this album is, it is painful to see how poorly this album is being marketed/sold. As of this date, this album is available only via Amazon and iTunes, both of which are out of bounds for Indians (people in India, I mean). I had to seek the help of a friend in the US to buy the mp3 tracks from Amazon! I *really* hope this album is available as a CD, in India, soon, so that people here could enjoy this album too.
Note 2: Aikon Baikon…video!