It helps to disappear from the ‘scene’ for a while. To take your time, collect your thoughts, really reconnect with yourself and then put that into creating a new work of art. Shamoon Ismail has resurfaced, after what seemed like an endless break, with Friday. Unexpectedly, in a good way, the track comes across as a quiet masterpiece.

Friday is a quiet lament, a song of longing and reconnection. While it’s written in both English and Punjabi, you don’t have to know the language to feel the emotion being communicated in the music. In complete contrast to the kind of work that’s being released nowadays within the electropop genre, which is dominated by funky sound samples, Friday takes a step back.

It’s a song that strips away the layers, musically and lyrically, to reveal its bare soul. There are no cool samples on loop, the whole song is structured on a simple bass beat and a repetitive slow piano riff — both of which keep themselves in the background, allowing you to focus on Shamoon’s vocals.

In some of his songs, Shamoon Ismail sings in a way as if he’s speaking quietly only to you, the listener, and only you are privy to his private, innermost thoughts and feelings. There’s an atmosphere of intimacy built into the song — something he’s done in some of his earliest releases such as Khayal (2018) from his Cookie EP.

Shamoon Ismail resurfaces after a year-long break with a quiet, introspective masterpiece called Friday

On a side note: Cookie was an independent release by the artist without any major platforms supporting it. Khayal, a song from that EP, now has over 1.5 million views on YouTube.

Friday is titled Friday because Shamoon met the subject of his song on Friday. The song is a conversation he’s trying to have with her about what could possibly be wrong:

“Tu kolay aa nahin kol/ Hilla le rogh/ Mein kadi pull janda reh/ I’m still trying to make it home/ Feels like we’re holding back/ Dil deta tenu kadd ke de ni jawaab/ Tu ik vaari das de kyun hai naraz/ Pucheya sab chadd ke kyun hai naraz/ Barre kam vi ay chad’de kyun hai naraz/ Kyun hai naraz”

[Come closer, nay, closer/ Shake away your sadness/ Sometimes, I forget my way/ I’m still trying to make it home/ Feels like we’re holding back/ I carved my heart out for you, now answer me/ Tell me why you’re upset/ I left it all, so why are you upset?/ I let go of important things [for you], so why are you so troubled? Why are you upset?]

All one can say after listening and comprehending the lyrics is: Whoever you are, forgive him. He knows not what he has done (as is apparent from the song).

It’s good to have Shamoon Ismail back in the music scene. While we’re going through a phase of some very excellent releases in electro-pop, it’s nice to slow down and have a quiet reflective moment with songs like Friday. One looks forward to what else the artist has on offer for 2023.

Published in Dawn, ICON, January 8th, 2023