Music Review: Pagglait (Hindi)

Composer(s): Arijit Singh
Listen to the songs online here: JioSaavn

With Pagglait, singer Arijit Singh makes one of the strongest musical debuts in recent times. Dil Udd Ja Re is ethereal, intricate, and layered all at once, and the wispy melody is crushingly beautiful in Neeti Mohan and Meghna Mishra's fine rendition. Thode Kam Ajnabi, appearing in three versions sung by Himani Kapoor, Chinmayi Sripada and Jhumpa Mondal, traverses the same sonic space, casting its spell with a deeply melodious ornamentation that's ineffable beyond words and sheathed in layers of soft, radiant texture. Phire Faqeera (and Pagal) doffs its hat to the new age A. R. Rahman, bursting with glitchy electronics, warbling synths, and heady rap segments, even as Arijit Singh keeps deftly switching from genre to genre. The title song finds Arijit channeling Pritam's knack for catchy and bouncy EDM-based dance numbers, and in Lamha, the composer knocks it out of the park with a Latinate-styled pensive melody. Arijit Singh weaves a rich tapestry of sounds that is infinitely appealing and pushes them into exciting new directions. There's a bit of everything, and it's strikingly original. It will be very interesting to see where he goes from here.

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