Reading into songs

Reading into songs

By Halima Mansoor

Over a year ago, co-VEN came out with Volume one and two (in one edition) and now their third album is almost ready to be released. Untitled as yet, the album is bolder in terms of arrangements, compositions and once released will possibly be the only brazen, much needed intelligent socio-political rhetoric on the shelves. The single ‘Ready to Die” is on air and the video is in the works.

Speaking with Hamza, Sameer and Sikander in Omar Hussein’s studio where they recorded this album, there was a desire to understand the dynamics between being a niche band and a marketing plan. The boys obviously want to be heard and the way their album is sounding, the new material should be heard.

Is the creative cost of throwing in a formula pop track worth the possible addition in audience? Not really. “The formula’s boring” as Sikander puts it. When they can create music that’s verifiably their own, which according to Sameer is getting “nothing but positive feedback”, their path to success is going to be the one less travelled in Pakistan

How did this purportedly niche band manage to do so much work without either giving up or being put out of business? According to Hamza, the band still occupies a smaller following in comparison to entertainment moguls. It often surprises music cynics that more people than anticipated have heard co-VEN’s work; this new album will surprise them more as it is predicted to crack a fairly large opening in the niche! It seems that these boys are prepared to get what they want the old fashioned way: whole hearted effort and letting their work speak for itself.

Musicians often bitterly say that perhaps co-VEN has the luxury of being able to afford being a niche band, of playing only what they enjoy. The boys make it very clear that the desired end is that co-VEN becomes their bread and butter, not the run of the mill jobs that everyone in the music industry is forced to maintain. And if that means working hard for sometime, they understand that to be a natural process.

Listening to their album in the studio, the sound is different from their last released work. The drums contribute more, with a fuller sound; there is a distinct folk influence in guitar parts and drums. The feel of the album is tense and free flowing at the same time. ‘X-Ray’ is one of the tracks where this juxtaposition gives the song the staying power and once you wrap your head around the lyrics you have to hear it again.

Each song unfurls bass lines that have groove and make a statement. Sadly, very few albums in Pakistan pay close to attention to the bass: it is usually just a mere part of the rhythm section. In the generation after Kamran Zafar better known as Mannu, Sameer Ahmed is a bass player to pay attention to. His flair for tight funky basslines with a dark edge is more evident in this album.

The boys attribute working in Omar’s studio to be a major factor for the change in sound. Working in his studio, they felt free to experiment more, to mull over their recording takes and compositions. As opposed to the first album which was recorded within 5 days, this took over two months. The duration did not reflect laziness or the inability to commit: the songs grew as co-VEN worked together, as a band and with Omer to create the unique sound without feeling the need to conform to a set studio pattern. Sikander mentioned that working with Omar was a learning experience in terms of how the recording process works outside the sound proof room. The album in turn reflects the growth process it is the result off. No less than a mature body of work that will appeal to an international market, if the boys manage to develop a marketing plan!

The album itself was born out of jam sessions. And it has grown as the boys themselves grew in terms of musical influences, expression and the times that we all live in. When political chaos is so relevant that it is no more something that affects ‘them’ and is very much pushing and pulling every one of ‘us’. ‘X- Ray’, ‘You’, ‘Plan B’, ‘The Man Himself’ and ‘Ready to Die’ all have potent lyrics that do not shy away from pointing out the ludicrousness of this era. The lyrics are written by Hamza and he does not mince words.

“The monkey men pretend to liberate, a nation they’ve enslaved, and they spread the fear…” or “…listening to the man, with the beard and fat belly, he says to rinse off the dirty deeds…”

The direct nature of the words is not off putting, in fact it is liberating to repeat the song as it goes on in your mind after its been turned off. These words are often mouthed by arm chair revolutionaries: to say them on stage to an audience poised to inhale every word you sing shows that some musicians are willing to have an agenda which is not intertwined with a marketing strategy.

Ever since the apathy and arrogance of younger years wore off, it became a personal desire to hear our own musicians play songs that reflect the reality surrounding us as true artists have been doing for centuries. With this new album, co-VEN has risen to the occasion.

What does Hamza want for the songs lyrics he writes? Obviously for them to be heard by as many people as possible. With such a strong message in one album, the obvious question was why Hamza as the front man does not interact with the audience at concerts. After all, it is that experience that the audience takes home and later relives when they hear the track, making it a personal memento.

A concert is not just the music, it is entertainment say the boys. It becomes another ballgame altogether. As Sameer mentioned, they are most comfortable playing in their own setting, or just for each other. This intimate communication is visible on stage as the each boy moves with this intuitive understanding of the musical and physical space the other two occupie. With a slight smile, Hamza stated that communicating with the audience while on stage is something he is working on. It also seems for this album, Hamza also worked on his style of singing. His enunciation is clearer and his voice flows smoother than ever.

co-VEN is the product of Hamza, Sameer and Sikander and while performing live, Omran Shafique. The boys own the music. While listening to the tracks in the studio, each one of them was visibly fine tuning that was being played, each one was in his own private zone where with a zero brush each musical nuance is being brushed into perfection.


Published in Images, Dawn on Sunday, January 25th, 2009