New music to catch this week: All in good time

Rudy Wallang and Tipriti Kharbangar of Soulmate

Daniel Ek, CEO of music streaming giant Spotify, opened up a can of worms last weekend when he said that musicians these days need to churn out regular material if they want to get by. A few artistes felt that his comment was fair do's. But others were fuming from the ears.

And one person who Ek has rubbed the wrong way is Rudy Wallang, the front man of Soulmate, arguably the country's most prominent blues outfit, which has released a new album called Give Love, after a gap of seven long years.

Wallang tells us, "I wonder where he [Ek] is coming from. Is he a musician? Does he understand what it takes to make an album? For us, an album tells a whole story. We are not interested in releasing singles or EPs. We aren't selling fast food here to make a quick buck. One thing I have realised is that as an artiste, I don't want to have any regrets because once you print a song, you can't change it again. So we'd rather take our time, cut out all the fat, and release something that makes a lasting impression."

Give Love, in that sense, is a lean, stripped-down product that sticks to the classic blues tradition. Wallang tells us that the band initially thought of releasing it last year, but then delayed the launch in order to get the mixing and mastering spot on. And that's swell, because in taking their time, Soulmate has printed a musical product that the band should have no regrets about.

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