MUMBAI: One of the most respected names in the city's live music arena - Dhruv Ghanekar - perfectly summed up on how categorising one’s music to a particular genre limits the creativity and the idea needs to be restricted only to put records on shelves. The article does not talk about Ghanekar, but about the band that has fairly travelled a road on similar principles. Mumbai-based Hindi rock band Daira released the music video of its most-performed and heard composition from its 2015-released album, titled 'Meri Soch'.

The video released on 9 June demonstrates the stop-motion animation of vocalist Piyush Kapoor’s lyrics, written during the band’s early days. ‘Meri Soch’ has also been the band’s first ever song to be composed, and the success of the song since the album’s release acted as an ideal reason to put visuals to the message of the composition that revolves around ‘freedom of thought’. The video demanded a year-long research, and with the hope that videos would make more impact to the purpose, Daira teamed up with the band’s visual identity a.k.a Ashwyn Warrior for the dedicated common goal.

“The video required strenuous efforts that spanned across ten consecutive days. Every day we clicked hundred of photos, one for every movement, and the eventual product was a result of over 6000 frames put together,” informed Vikalp Sharma, the guitarist and backing vocalist. Sharma, also the animator for ‘Meri Soch’, explained the DIY effort leads to effective outcome only when the translation of thoughts to visuals does not miss vital essential elements. “The decision to record a music video for ‘Meri Soch’ occurred last year, and although the video does not involve elaborate props, exotic locations and such factors, we managed to execute what we had in mind.” So why need a video for a composition that is self-explanatory? “The idea was to plant a seed in the listener and viewer’s mind. Some people do not even care about the lyrics anymore. This allows the listener to understand what the song conveys even better.”

Moving from an independent alternative Hindi rock band to, arguably, the most popular Hindi rock band of the country – Euphoria – as the band released its much-awaited music video for ‘Halla Bol’. As the title suggests, the song expresses a warcry (not too intense) on some of the growing trends in the society (mostly media and mainstream outlets) that have had some kind of influence on the people. A dig at famous prime time news anchor to the deteriorating qualities of pop music videos, Euphoria covers almost every newsmaker that surely had consumed one’s social media timeline or news coverage and so on.

Palash Sen appears in several avatars – politicians, hip-hopper, activist, news anchor – and the effort ensured Sen in his best acting skills. Unlike Daira, Euphoria could manage a grand budget, and the pop act provided justice to the opportunity.

Released on the third anniversary of the release of its first music video ‘Lightbulbs’, Chennai-based alternative/punk band The F16s uploaded the lyric video for the year-old single ‘Jacuzzi’. With the intent to suit the mood of the music, the band put together three separate videos with lyrics that somehow justified the actions on the background. Vocalist Josh explained, “The lyric video only required a couple of hours. The song is all about human emotions. More or less, the song speaks about dealing with inner conflicts.”

Josh elaborated further that the idea to put a lyric video also arose due to the several misinterpretations of the lyrics that prompted the band to choose, arguably, the most intense The F16s song ever composed. Josh added, “I want lyrics to affect the listeners. I want them to think about it.” A year since its release, the multiple interpretations and the inability to translate the message continues to drive the single even more relevant, with the release date of the new 9-track album ‘Triggerpunkte’ postponed to August.