Avial – A common man’s review

My colleagues and myself have this not-so-unusual habit of sharing songs that we admire and relish. Now and then there is that odd comical interpretation of malayalees done by some jovial bunch of engineering students. Ironically that’s how I was introduced to Avial the first time. The song “Nada Nada” was forwarded to me and the subject line read, “Mallu rock – funny as hell”. So I open the music file expecting something along the lines of “Neela bucket” (a novelty mallu rap piece by the aforementioned group of engineering students). But BOY was I in for a surprise!

I was mighty impresses by this song and the logical counter reaction to this is finding out more about this “Avial”. I get to hear some more samples from their videos on YouTube. I liked it so much that I went and got the album for myself! Now to tell you why I’m writing this review. I googled for “Avial music review” and I’m not very impressed by the search results. It was not because Google faltered (duh!) but more so because of the stifled welcome these guys got. And this exactly is the inspiration for this post. My attempt at reviewing music I thoroughly enjoyed.

Ok lets dive right in. The first song is “Nada Nada”. This has become the signature song for the band and rightly so. Its got plenty of airtime (Thanks mainly to ACV jukebox and Rosebowl) and the video has already clocked in a 130K+ hits on YouTube. The sound is supreme and is what I can blindly classify as Alternative Rock. You must’ve seen a slightly modded version of the next song “Chekele” from the movie “Sancharram”. This song is a revolutionary piece of arrangement. A pure folk song has been morphed so beautifully into its evident form. “Njan Aara” is my personal favorite. The song is very hummable and the lyrics a are so deep and can have a multitude of emotions attached to them. I could listen to this one over and over. The snatch is the manner in which the song fades itself with a haunting melody. “Arikkuruke” starts with dialogues from what seems like the movie “Sphadikam”. This song’s shifts to a different tempo and takes the listener with it. While I listened to this song over and over, I was wondering if this song would sound better with a voice like Chad Kroeger. “Aranda” is another rebellious sounding song. Frankly, my measly brain could not comprehend the real essence of this song, it sure reminded me of one Mr. Mike Shinoda and his group. “Karukara” has a beautiful guitar piece in its intro. Although the song sounds alright especially with Aparnashree syncing so beautifully with Anand Raj, I personally felt it didn’t emote the real mood of the lyrics. Nevertheless, the strings are beyond words in this one. One song which sounds like a LOT of songs but nothing like ANY of them is “Aadu Pambe”. This really is one of the most innovative and daring pieces of music I’ve heard in recent times. This song made me an absolute admirer. And what better way to end this fiesta than with a haunting masterpiece. That’s what “Ettam Paatu” is. Mind-blowing lyrics and a tune that brilliantly emotes the feeling. I completely lose myself in this song and I’m sure you would too if you could what the words meant.

So all in all, “Avial” cannot be compared to too many debut albums out there. It would be unfair on the competitors. Its so magnificently arranged, masterfully sequenced and very professionally arranged. I give these guys a standing ovation failing to completely express my awe at what I call a seminal piece of work in Malayalam music and Rock history. Its all thumbs up for “Avial” and an addition to their growing fan club. Ardently awaiting more from them…

Check out Avial performing with the Italian band A67
http://www.myspace.com/sessantasette