If you’re headed to, or are just getting in to Magnetic Fields, you already know the scores of things to look forward to at the most intriguing festival in the country. Adding to the growing list is 22-year-old producer Kumail‘s release of his next LP ‘Links’, which launches today at the festival with an online release in January next year. Just to whet your appetite, check out his first single ‘D R K‘ off the new LP; a dark, brooding treat with some deft soundwork:
“This is definitely one of the darker tracks on the LP,” Kumail says. “It’s a lot more electronic, while the rest of the songs on the LP are more organic and I’d say earthy, featuring samples of the sitar, acoustic guitars and live vocals.”
When we last caught up with Kumail, he’d mentioned that a lot of sounds he’s used in this LP have been recorded from different places he’d travelled to. He tells us a little bit about working with organic sounds. “There are endless possibilities with sound, you can make
anything sound like that which you want it to, and it’s fascinating. You can manipulate water drops to sound like hi-hats, for instance…I’ve really enjoy working with sounds from nature for this LP.”
As for the artwork, which is a collaboration between Nirvair Nath and Dheer Kaku, he explains, “This is actually the third artwork that was drawn up before we went ahead and finalised it. ‘Links’ is a very colourful album, and Nirvair had made something initially which he later realised doesn’t fit the ethos of the album. He was going through his sketchbook one day when he hit upon this one, and sent it to me — I gave him the go ahead right away, and Dheer and him edited it to what it is right now; the actual original sketch is very different from the final product.”
If you’re headed to, or are just getting in to Magnetic Fields, you already know the scores of things to look forward to at the most intriguing festival in the country. Adding to the growing list is 22-year-old producer Kumail‘s release of his next LP ‘Links’, which launches today at the festival with an online release in January next year. Just to whet your appetite, check out his first single ‘D R K‘ off the new LP; a dark, brooding treat with some deft soundwork:“This is definitely one of the darker tracks on the LP,” Kumail says. “It’s a lot more electronic, while the rest of the songs on the LP are more organic and I’d say earthy, featuring samples of the sitar, acoustic guitars and live vocals.”When we last caught up with Kumail, he’d mentioned that a lot of sounds he’s used in this LP have been recorded from different places he’d travelled to. He tells us a little bit about working with organic sounds. “There are endless possibilities with sound, you can make anything sound like that which you want it to, and it’s fascinating.
You can manipulate water drops to sound like hi-hats, for instance…I’ve really enjoy working with sounds from nature for this LP.”As for the artwork, which is a collaboration between Nirvair Nath and Dheer Kaku, he explains, “This is actually the third artwork that was drawn up before we went ahead and finalised it. ‘Links’ is a very colourful album, and Nirvair had made something initially which he later realised doesn’t fit the ethos of the album. He was going through his sketchbook one day when he hit upon this one, and sent it to me — I gave him the go ahead right away, and Dheer and him edited it to what it is right now; the actual original sketch is very different from the final product.”
“Working with San was really great,” he shares his experience of working with Sandunes on ‘Let Me’. “She’s really, really talented; I gave her the song, and she had all the synths layered on it in under 20 minutes. There was a lot of space to be filled in the track, which she managed to do so perfectly.” Having worked on the album for almost a year now, Kumail’s raring to get it out there, and when it comes to releasing the album at Magnetic Fields Festival this year, he shares, “I’m really excited about the release, I really believe there’s nothing else like it in the scene right now. This album has a lot more to offer to a more varied audience than my previous work, I’d say. It’s very different from what I’ve done before, it’s got beats and it’s groovy, and not just experimental work.
I want to take people by surprise with this one.” With the online release coming up in January next year for those who aren’t going to be at Magnetic Fields Festival, Kumail also hints at a multi-city tour with a visual show following the release, and a music video release for his personal favourite track from the album ‘Fields’. Definitely something to look forward to in the new year for fans of left-of-field electronic music with an inclination for the subtler inflections.
