Muthal Mazhayae Music Review

Devan Ekambaram came to Chennai to become a composer and did a pop album along with S.P.B. Charan. I remember seeing the promos of the album in Vijay TV then. I think it was some 10 years back. Then he became a singer and sang many hit numbers and even acted in a film and gave his voice for the hero of the movie “Little John”. But after doing all this, Devan returns as a composer with an album called Muthal Mazhayae. Harish Ragavendra is the other singer and he has also written the lyrics for all the songs.

It is a kind of album that we carve to listen. It is an all-melody album. There are totally 9 songs and all are beautiful refreshing melodies. Though they are melodies, Devan seems to be influenced by western music a lot. It is quite interesting to listen the way the words take different diction and expressions with western notes. As a counter point Harish Ragavendra’s vocals has a strong Indian classical influence. Such two extreme influences are beautifully harmonized in the songs to give us a unique listening experience. Both Devan and Harish have soothing vocals and their expressive rendition enhances the melody in the songs. I am surprised composers don’t give melodies to Devan. He is too good in all the melodies in this album. The format of some the songs are not the usual ones that we get to hear in film music. There are enough surprises in all the songs. We can’t predict what instrument will follow what or what form of music will fill the next interlude or how different a turn the note and style of the next line/word in the song may take. It is this surprise element that makes it a unique listening experience. One more thing that I like about the album is the way Devan has used the Bass guitar in the songs.

The most stunning number in the album is the title track, which is done in the form of a Cappella. It is one of the most beautiful melodies I have heard in recent past. Cappella is a form of music that has no backing orchestra. It is a musical piece written for voices. A main lead will sing the song and a choir backing will support the main lead. I am really impressed by the effort gone in making this song the way it is. The multi-layered choir backing is great and is perfectly in synch with the tune and mood of the main melody. There is one more version for this song with orchestral backing, which again is a great effort. One more interesting number is “Thedudhu Kangal” sung by Harish and Mahalaxmi Iyer. It is heavily inspired by the IR duets in 80’s. Initially I didn’t like this song but later liked it mainly because they have understood and adapted IR’s style really well. All other songs are equally good among which I felt “Iravugal” is a little boring song though the melody is good. The lyrics by Harish are pretty good and decent enough to carry the melody in the song. “Muthal Mazhayae” is as beautiful and fresh as first drop of rain.