Listen: ‘Boy’ EP By Madboy

12 April 2016

Imaad Shah is a Mumbai based producer and musician known best for his work with Saba Azad as MADBOY/MINK – a nu-disco, electro-cabaret-funk outfit that have amassed a large number of fans with their accessible, catchy songs and energetic live performances.

Shah goes solo for his newly launched project with a debut, 4 track EP called ‘Boy’, which explores a less frantic, more laid back, synth heavy direction in pop influenced electronica.

"A lot of the new music I’ve been making of late has been inspired by stuff like rainforests, space exploration and fantasy. I’ve always loved the music and the retrofuturism art from the space age of the 60s as well as early roots of neo soul. Classic synthesizer sounds are amazingly relevant today, and to me, pretty psychedelic. I love soul music and I love that that is such a broad term, so I can mess around with genre." – Imaad Shah

We feel that ‘retrofuturism’ to an extent. The funk/disco influences are apparent in ‘On Your Mind’ and ‘Jellyfish’, two of the more earworm-y songs in the EP that bring to mind the music of people like Frame/Frame (who he collaborated with on the ‘Hard Boiled Wonderland’ EP) and Sandunes (those synths!). The problem with ‘Boy’ is how Shah’s vocals have been treated. For songs that centre so obviously around lyrics, it doesn’t make much sense to us that that his voice is so hushed and diluted. It sounds unnecessarily shy, almost like he's been forced to sing when he'd much rather stand at the back with his guitar.

Madboy’s debut EP is a fairly straightforward (slightly safe) first attempt at going solo, but vibrant, happy and accessible nonetheless. You can listen to it in its entirety below and follow Madboy on Facebook for updates. Support the artist and download the album (for free) here on Bandcamp. Madboy will be performing in Kolkata, Delhi and Bangalore later this month. Gig details below.

Words: Diya Gupta
Image credit (thumb): Shreya Dev Dube

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