Theatrical Rock & Soft Songwriting Mix On Green Park's Debut Album 'Newly Aged'
5 April 2024
New Delhi trio (formerly a quartet) Green Park has recently released its debut album 'Newly Aged' exploring themes around transitioning into adulthood and the emotions that come with it.
The 11-track album quickly draws comparisons to some of the more experienced contemporaries within the Indian indie band space. Green Park takes the gentleness of Arpan Kumar's songwriting and mixes it with a theatrical form of indie-rock that includes influences of everything from jazz soundtracks and lo-fi sampling to remind of the works of New Delhi's Peter Cat Recording Co. (band member Kartik Pillai even provides trumpet duties on the album) – best exemplified on 'I Met Someone'. While the laidback ditziness and innocence of 'Soft Toys' harken to the sound of Parekh & Singh. The band also wears on its sleeve the pop-psychedelia influence of The Beatles, a band that the members bonded over to ultimately form a unit together.
Ultimately the album's most ingenious and individualist aspect comes from the unique voice within the songwriting itself which shines best on the Sarod-infused 'Dulcet Tones' – an instance where the heavy collaborations work completely in tandem with the song's message and emotions.
The album is almost equal parts focused songwriting and equal parts scattered sonic experimentation with its heavy presence of short skits, extended outros and radical intros. The title track on the album represents both the merit and the flaw of that combination. What could have worked sufficiently as a strong rock track seems to have a few influences too many with the driving punk guitars getting backed by a punchiness from the drum and bass parts that give a nod to dance music. At the same time, the same maximalism facilitates one of the album's sweetest moments when its chaos erupts and then dissipates into a run of horn melodies and beds of reverberating vocals and pads.
Listen to the album 'Newly Aged' below and follow Green Parks for more.
Image by Abhishek Singh