Music
Parekh & Singh
Hug & Pint, Glasgow
Jonathan Geddes
four stars
THIS was Parekh and Singh’s first visit to Scotland, and hopefully it will not be the last. The duo are fixtures on the Indian alternative scene and are now looking further afield, thanks to a deal with indie label Peacefrog Records, but if an onstage appearance that saw both men wearing mustard coloured suits inspired by Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel suggested a novelty act, the music was far richer.
Their debut album Ocean veers between dreamy pop and overly twee material, but here the group were beefed up with two extra musicians, synths player Sanaya Ardeshir and Pedro Zappa, a magnificently bearded bassist with energetic eyebrows that seemed responsive to each melody. The duo provided extra strength, while Jivrah Singh, on drums and programming, bounded around.
The set’s first half seemed more rooted in straightforwardly melodic moments, from the lovely tones of opener Panda to the chiming Newbury Street, a flashback to the Boston street singer Nischay Parekh lived on. Before the track Philosophise, Parekh mentioned the combination of Eastern and Western influences on the band, but musically it was material you could imagine hearing from a university dorm, all breezy pop.
If the first half had been pleasant and occasionally too sweet, reliant on Parekh’s lilt of a voice, then the second portion seemed more finely honed. Hill had a rhythm to trouble dancefloors, Something was textbook guitar pop and new track Sunbeam oozed warm charm, perfect for the day’s warm weather.
A shame that some in the audience chattered throughout, but the rousing reception at gig’s end, provoking a genuinely unplanned encore where they repeated earlier material, was a better testament to the show.
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