Music Briefs: Guardian, Kalathil Santhippom, Paava Kadhaigal, Red, Sumesh & Ramesh, & The Power

A roundup of the latest music from Mani Sharma, Salim-Sulaiman, Pradeep Tom, Yuvan Shankar Raja, and more...

Red - A lacklustre soundtrack from Mani Sharma that's forgettable at worst and serviceable at best. An onslaught of boilerplate raucous numbers, the only solace in this mind-numbing album arrives in the form of Mounanga Unna, a pleasing melody sung by Dinker and Nutana Mohan.

The Power - In a different decade, Oh Saaiyaan is the exactly kind of song that would have been sung by Sonu Nigam. But to their credit, composer-duo Salim-Sulaiman keep things simple and inviting, even if it's a retread of their earlier work.

Guardian - Pradeep Tom's Venmathiye is a breezy soft-rock churner, complemented well by Libin Scaria, the winner of Zee Keralam Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Season 1, and Keerthana SK on the vocals, while Saavariya's uniformly gorgeous soundscape is led by Najim Arshad and Sruthi Sivadas to fantastic effect.

Sumesh & Ramesh - Composed by the duo of Yakzan Gary Periera and Neha Nair, Kinavil is a dreamy melody featuring a delicate and beautiful balance of warm acoustic guitar riffs and harmonies (that flute!) along with heartfelt lyricism. Neeyum Njanum is no different, resting on a soft bed of tasteful instrumentation, making for a pensive guitar ballad.

Kalathil Santhippom - Packed with tunes that sound as if they were pulled out of a rejected catalog, this outing from Yuvan Shankar Raja offers little to distinguish it from his early work in the 2000s. The datedness is mitigated, if only partly, by Yen Maraikiraai, its effortlessly free-flowing melody gaining solid backing from singer Aslam Abdul Majeed.

Paava Kadhaigal - Thangamey, sung by Murugavel, is a folky stunner all the way, as is its other sad variant (Engey Mavarsan), with Justin Prabhakaran crafting an almost Rahman'esque number from the early 90's that's at once poignant and lilting. Anirudh's Dad Song is a far cry from his anthemic bangers, traversing a more subdued sound, while in Kanne Naan Un, singer Karthik ropes in a fantastic Bombay Jayashri for what's a sparsely produced folk tune. Karthik also sings and composes Ponnuthaayi, a sweeping piece of work that builds slowly and piles on strings, even as R. Sivatmikha aka Gaana Girl's Kanne Kanmaniye finds its soulful core in Ananthu's captivating rendition, and a lovely assortment of flute and strings.