Indie spirit

Dualist Inquirys debut full-length album,Doppelganger,has released under a new label for free download

ONE of the tell-tale signs that a gig by musician Sahej Bakshis solo project Dualist Inquiry is in progress is the gaggle of adoring women that fill the first couple of rows at most of its shows. On Friday night,at the launch of its debut full-length album,Doppelganger,with a gig at Blue Frog,fans came in hordes and packed the Lower Parel venue to capacity.

Since his debut three years ago,Delhi-based Dualist Inquiry has been one of Indian electronicas favourite acts. But until Friday,the one thing missing was an LP. His gig at Blue Frog marked the beginning of a 10-city tour to support this album,and was the first showing of Bakshis new,live audio-visual set-up,the Doppelganger Rig. Bakshi played his two-hour-long set from inside this 9×13 ft projection mapping rig built for the tour. Cubes of different shapes made up the rig,and animation and visuals were projected onto these,providing some interesting accompaniments to the new tunes.

The nine-track album sometimes sounds like his first EP Dualism,and sometimes completely different. The song One More Thing,for instance,seems almost entirely like its meant to be a continuation of this previous record. Then,tracks such as Blitzkrieg and Anathema manage to retain the sound fans have grown to associate with Bakshi,but are still quite different from his earlier work. The trademark guitar continues to remind listeners that Bakshis roots lie in rock music,and the experimentation with various genres of dance music reaffirm that electronica is what Bakshi does best.

Interestingly,Bakshi has launched this album not with an existing record label,but his own,new Dualism Records. The idea is for the label to be a platform for weird indie electronica,and it will offer all albums for free download,as Doppelganger is. Its something Ive wanted to do for a long time,and feels like a natural step forward,allowing me creative and executive control over my music and how it reaches listeners, says Bakshi.

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