This burst of musical creativity is a pleasure to stream and listen to. We are, of course, talking about Towers’ latest release Shola. There’s a lot happening in the song at the same time. We have an old recording of a woman who sounds like Sanam Marvi singing verses from Bulleh Shah’s sufi kalaam Teray ishq nachaya. The only other singer to have really made performing this kalaam her signature in her concerts is the incomparable Abida Parveen.

But, I digress. The recording plays to different effects, seemingly in the background. The gentlemen behind Towers — Bilal Baloch, Changez Basir and Ashir Bhatti — sing in a mix of Urdu, English and ‘Minglish’, with both Urdu and English showing up in the same sentence.

Shola is basically a love song. One of the elements to watch out for in it is how the acoustic percussions have been incorporated — one picked out sounds that resembled percussive tapping/playing of the ghatam, a clay pot with a narrow mouth that produces a very sweet sound, almost like that of tapping on water.

Towers does not disappoint with their latest release, Shola. This fun, electropop number furthers the band’s eclectic acoustic-electronic sound

Yes, this is an electropop number but, true to their signature sound, Towers have incorporated ‘offline’ acoustic instruments into the composition. It’s this breath of fresh air that makes Towers’ music stand out from the other purely electropop numbers coming out of the Pakistani indie scene.

Personally, I am a fan of this Karachi-based electropop outfit’s signature eclectic sound. The band is considered one of the top indie bands to watch out for in Pakistan by Clove Magazine, a publication dedicated to South Asian culture. They have also been featured numerous times at music festivals, such as the Lahore Music Meet.

The song is a mix of easy-going acoustic instrument playing, electronic and unplugged percussions and soft vocals, in a very urban ‘burger’ Urdu accent. The band produce the kind of songs that are perfect to listen to while out on a drive or that play in the background without demanding too much attention when entertaining.

The songs are predominantly written by Bilal (on guitar, keys and electronics) in both Urdu and English, with some arrangement and instrumentation by Changez (on bass and percussions). Their notable previous releases include the somewhat melancholic Andhere Mein and the massively popular track, Filhaal, which I’ve heard playing endlessly on the radio. And rightly so.

Filhaal is a groovy, acoustic-electronic track that’s easy to sing along to. With Shola, you have to listen closely a few times, owing to how smoothly and quickly some of the lyrics are belted out. But once you get it, you can definitely sing along to this one as well. Here’s looking forward to what Towers comes up with next.

Published in Dawn, January 30th, 2022