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I have climbed the highest mountains
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you
Only to be with you

I have run I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls
Only to be with you
But I still haven’t found
What I’m looking for
But I still haven’t found
What I’m looking for

I have kissed honey lips
Felt the healing in her fingertips
It burned like fire
This burning desire
I have spoke with the tongue of angels
I have held the hand of a devil
It was warm in the night
I was cold as a stone
But I still haven’t found
What I’m looking for
But I still haven’t found
What I’m looking for

As I was digging deeper and deeper into the rabbit-hole trap of MB’s soulful voyage of a music album, I felt like going back to the eternal U2 song. The same quest, that leads to more great things in art as time goes by.

The songs just work like a continued round of dark rum, you really don’t care when and how they come, as long as they keep coming.

Baghi

Electronic grunge with a voice that is as gray as the electric riffs.

Chain nahi milta hai
Zakhmo ka ye jalwa hai
Naino ke jaadu se baaghi hua main

Fast paced but not pop, stays very much gray and grunge. The riffs are not very prominent, muddled on purpose. They seem to have undergone a lot of processing.

Bechainiyo pe zinda
Ghayal hoon ek nazar ka
Maalik hun tanha dil ka
Baadshah hoon apne safar ka
Sab kuch andha kuaan hai
Chhaya kaisa nasha hai

Naino ke

The track attains a distinct maturity by the end, the voice almost roars now

Yaadein bas yaadein hain
Bachte bas vaadein hain
Yaadein bas yaadein hain

Chain nahi milta hai
(sounds like sung in some other planet)

Hai bhi aur nahi bhi
Mesmerizing mix of strings and electric riffs opens the tracks
There is a perfect semblance in the two.
You wish the jugalbandi doesn’t end.
Can’t decide what is better – strings or tabs.

Main thak chuka hoon
Tum bula rahe ho
Main thak chuka hoon
Bujhne ko main tujhko
Ek saans fir aa rahi hai

The vocals are very underground, very post-relational…

Very indistinct vocals, but the effect is so dark, and the sound creates such a smoky ambience, you just feel like letting your head loose than figuring the words out…

This is easily one of the better orchestrated tracks of the album.
I had fun playing along with it.
Somewhere in the middle of this string cacophony, a ball (table tennis me thinks) and distracts you. I had to replay it to figure the sound, and there are some more sounds that you discover on repeat replays, something fizzing out, like someone just open a beer can. It is hard to put a genre to it, or a place to the sounds created, to call it fusion would be demeaning its distinctiveness.

Ghoomte pahiyon pe sab chalta hai
Sapno mein sapna chhupta hai
Bhagwaan mandir mein milta nahi hai
Sab kuch hai aur nahi bhi

Raaste
Electronica launches this track again, followed by a slight drum beat, there is a little bit of flute heard too in the background. The drum becomes constant now and sets the pace for the following vocals

Raaste uljhe hue hain
Zindagi tham si gayi hain
Chahtein kabhi kam nahi hain
Dooriyaan kam hoti nahi hain

Koshisho mein ab dum nahi hai
Khojta to kahin ab nahi hai

The mood is very lost; I still haven’t found what I am looking for, in the lyrical sense. And this mood works beautifully for the song’s no holds barred expression/execution.

Jungle hai juaan hai baazi haar jaana hai
Sapne hain sapno ka kya thikaana hai
Jis khel mein suli ki boli lagti ho
Jis mel mein sab kuch satrangi dikhta ho

Aa sakte ho wahaan pe aana
Mujhko to agle safar mein hai jaana

Thanks but no thanks for your niceties
But I gotta catch the train

Wish I could
An entangling string pattern which is more approachable and mellow on the lines of first love, the ambient sounds distract you pleasantly yet again. Somehow there always seems to be a constant other side to these songs, and that gives them their soul.
There is a little harmonica somewhere too…

The song gets very comforting and feel-good once the beats come in, mostly synthesized though.

Flying like a butterfly

Noke mirishi
Loban mirina
Aatelako kaane moto

The mood is a refreshingly chilled out one, much of a needed break from the amplified grunge and negativity in the other tracks. There is a very Indian sounding string somewhere in middle of this musical potpourri that takes you to an image of 6-7 world musicians performing together at some cultural fest or some shit like that.

The arrangement is very impressive, one manages to hear each instrument distinctly even though there is quite a crowd there.

This is another of the mystique stoner tracks that you would love to take to a virgin beach while you forget everything that remembers you.

MB gives you all those muddy images with all possible vocals, tere bina mujhe chain na aaye to a ‘free like a bird’ bit to a classical outing amidst trippy string ensemble.

Hawaa
A ‘saxy’ intro, a club feel, the voice suddenly sounds all family. Very pop.

You would not really like to talk about the lyrics. They are way too cheesy to belong to this album. It is also very lonely beach but seems to do all the wrong things with the beach. Much like when you end up at the wrong places at the pretty right times.

The song could have worked in a different execution, it needs a quieter mood. Here it tends to get very breezy and salsa. It is definitely not amongst the better ones, but having said that, it is a brave effort for its vocal and mood transitions well within the salsa/jive frame.

Nasha chadhega tab dekhenge
Waise in sab baato mein rakha hi kya hai

Kya khoya hoon kya paaoonga
Samajh mein kuch nahi aata hai
Bhatak gaya hoon is jungle mein
Jahaan suraj shaam hoti hai
Akele mein jitna bhi andhera

Bhari Bandook
The intro is very indi-sufi-rock. This song is primarily poetic, so the easy and constant rhythm pattern. Very eccentric and edgily written. It will shock at the onset.

Bhari bandook se nishana khojta hoon
Shikaar khada hai par ab kya sochta hoon

Kai raato se main soya nahi hoon
Man mein taala laga hai
Idhar mandir ki ghantiyaan bajti hain
Kabhi tere liye bajti hain
Kabhi mere liye bajti hain
Sannate mein bajti hain

Shahar basey hain lohaar ki bhatti mein
Pighalte hain par kuch nahi keh paatey

Aasmaan cheer ke baaghi cheekhta hai
Chamakti bijliyon mein raasta khojta hai
Dhadkane garaj rahi hain sharer bikhar rahein hain
Dimaag ke rakhwaale ab tak kahin soye hain
Hasne ki awaaz peechhe se aati hai

Beimaani kar sakta tha
Lekin khud se dar lagta tha.

Ismein kuch sachchai nahi hai
Ab koi khudaai khudaai nahi hai

Bhoot: The Redemption Song
Kunwe ke andar se cheekhta hai koi
Sunne waala koi nahi

Gham se kam ghabraaoge

Dil behlaana bada sasta hai
Bhtakne ka alag ek majaa hai
Saadey paani mein kaisi dawaa hai
Pyaase reh ke dekho to jaano

Je rahe ho dar ko kyun le kar
Daaka daalo chori se badhkar
Tere haato mein hai dum

Dar gaye ho baazi lagaa kar
Kya karoge kuch bhi bachaa kar

Lo kar do sab kuchh khatam

Thak gaya hoon tere aage
Ya banaa de ya to mitaade
Tere haato mein hai sab

Aisa kyun ho gaya
Main bach gayaa

Go ahead a grab Baghi, and slide back and feel bad about the world. It will feel good!