Blackstratblues is a project pretty well known to anyone who has been following the indie scene here in our country for the past couple of years. We say this because it filled a cold void left behind by a great guitar player in the country’s rock scene when he returned to give us some solace in this new avatar. Warren Mendonsa was Zero’s founding member and driving force behind the band’s energetic, fun filled music baking wild rock melodies from his ever sweet sounding stratocaster. Warren left Zero in 2005 when he relocated to New Zealand and was away from the scene for almost a couple of years. He worked on his solo material meanwhile and released ‘Nights in Shining Karma‘ under the name Blackstratblues which was put up online for free download (not many artistes were doing this back then). The project was very well received by Zero fans and music lovers alike as it was a fresh and unique attempt by an Indian musician and possibly the first well produced one of its kind from our country.

Nearly 3 years down the line, Warren returns with his second solo release called ‘The New Album’ at a time when Indian indie is going through its high times and the musical level of artistes and releases in the country is steadily on the rise. The album as a whole is an attempt far more complete and mature than Blackstratblues’ first release and is indeed a worthwhile listen for all kinds of music lovers. In contrast to the previous release, ‘The New Album’ comes across as an album by an artiste who has truly found his sound and makes music for his sheer love of the same and nothing more. Its a wholesome attempt at writing good tunes, something which more artistes in our country should be looking at instead of proving their potential as musicians or commercial success stories. Warren takes the listeners through a beautiful soundscape with something strikingly unique in each of the 8 songs.

The album opens with the bluesy ‘Happy Billi Song’ which is a simple tune driven home by the sound of Warren’s thick overdriven lines sliding around and freaking out in their somewhat Indian essence, drawing light on another quality of this gifted artiste. Most other tracks on the album come across as more involved creations. ‘Lullabyebye’ is a heartfelt emotion told through a simple chord change with pristine lines played on top using the slide and otherwise. ‘Newness’ has a lot of India thrown into it with its ethnic percussive sounds and a time signature typical of Indian music. The melody lines on this track seamlessly blend into a sweet chorus and eventually float through various well-crafted dimensions before heading back home again through a ‘stairway’ influenced reprise. The two vocal-led tracks on the album are quite a treat as well. ‘Another Sun’ featuring Johnny Barker is an easy, laid back tune with a strong chorus and well structured sections which get you rocking before you know it whereas ‘Older, Wise, and Grey’ is a subtle yet dynamic creation featuring some good symphonic arrangement led by Emma Walter’s soft but progressive vocals topped off by Warren’s precise layering of electric and acoustic guitars. ‘Ode To A Rainy Day’ is again a very well implemented idea keeping in tune with the album’s sound and at the same time telling its story and expressing its feelings to great detail through its Floyd laced textures. Warren leaves his best work to close the album with ‘Ode To A Sunny Day’. The song is beautifully written and brilliantly performed with each layer of instruments soaking more and more into its underlying emotion which draws the listener in nice and easy and takes them traveling through its dreamy land.

Warren has delivered much higher than what we expected of him with this extremely well-produced and robust album consisting of songs which are well structured and are very clear about putting across their melodies, which indeed are the strength of this artiste’s work. The production and performances on the album are of the highest standard and are sure to inspire the musicians, producers and guitar players in India to raise their performance to this next level and stress on the right factors about their music. As for Blackstratblues, we do want more but it will be quite a while before we get over this one.

And yes, ‘The New Album’ can be downloaded FREE here.

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