Power overtakes reason in Noori’s comeback song

Ali Noor discusses the socio-political commentary in their upcoming song ‘Aik Tha Badshah’

KARACHI: They say that a cat has nine lives. For three it plays, for three it strays, and for the last three it stays. All the rock bands from the old order of Pakistani music seem to be living like a cat with most of them either dead or just trying to ‘stay’ around.

By the old order we mean bands that evolved in an altogether different environment; they made a living out of live shows and didn’t rely on YouTube hits to get concerts. Noori was one of them and easily a trendsetter in the way rock music was made and perceived in Pakistan. But which of the nine lives they’re living can only be assessed by the response they’d receive for their upcoming song Aik Tha Badshah.

This in a way will be their third attempt at a comeback. They surfaced with Aik Alif (2009), followed by their grand reunion in 2012 with founding members, Gumby and Mohammad Ali Jaffri and now with the band line-up back to the brothers.

However, with the kind of music they are promising to offer this time around, it seems like Noori has come up with something incredible. “It’s an evolved sound. I think we have a lot of new genres,” Ali Noor told The Express Tribune. Noor started listening to a lot of new indie rock and new pop bands that inspired him to take things in an entirely new direction.

“I got a chance to listen to 30 Seconds to Mars and really loved that sound and I got a chance to mix and match between our live instrumentation and some more electronic music”.

However, the hype for Aik Tha Badshah started when Noori released a rather psychedelic teaser captioned, A Ride into The Future, on their Facebook page. It opens with Ali Noor’s stern gaze and sturdy words, “Do you have any idea what we have been up to?”

Read: Do you have any idea what Noori has been up to?

Our guess after watching Ali Hamza crowned like the king of the seven kingdoms with slaves clad in black at his service while he plays chess, hinted at the Game of Thrones reference. This sadly turned out to be a wrong guess.

“There's no Game of Thrones reference,” clarifies Noor, “This song is about how power corrupts someone and how the pursuit of power destroys purpose”. The band has tried to comment on how power overtakes reason and leads one to be completely lost to it. “You needed power to take over but then it eventually takes over and makes you lost your purpose. We've tried depicting that in the video but it's difficult to do”.

Further details regarding Noori’s next album will be revealed and the formal unveiling of Aik Tha Badshah will take place in an official press event in Lahore, which is being organised in association with Red Bull Pakistan.