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“They look like they’ve been asked to sit in the principal’s office. All of them,” said photographer Kohi Marri when the band members of the Karachi underground act, Orangenoise were sitting in the main control room at LJP Studios. As the featured artistes in Ufone Uth Record’s second last episode, they were there to meet their music producer, Gumby.
Orangenoise consists of Daniel Panjwanee aka Danny P on vocals, Talha Asim Wynne on guitars, Daniyal Hyatt on drums and Faizan Reidinger on synths and keyboards. Daniyal Hyatt and Faizan Reidinger are also members of the underground band, Mole, which has garnered quite a bit of a cult audience.
Even prior to be being featured on the show, Orangenoise had been making waves in the underground music scene in Pakistan. The genre of music that they are involved in, Shoegazing, is signified by the heavy use of effects and vocals that blend into the creative noise created by the musical instruments that are being played. The term Shoegazing was coined by music publications that named the genre thus because (according to an online source) “the musicians in these bands stood relatively still during live performances in a detached, introspective, non-confrontational state, hence the idea that they were gazing at their shoes.” According to Gumby, “Shoegaze music is an evolving sound.”
Orangenoise had prepared five tracks and their preview took almost a whopping two hours. They seemed to know their way around the studio and didn’t appear in need of direction. Out of the five songs that they played, Chaser was selected as the featured song.
Unlike most acts, Orangenoise recorded the song together all at once. The band members did not play or record anything individually. “I haven’t seen any band that has recorded a song all in one go,” said a visibly impressed Gumby during the episode.
“Chaser is about the addiction to being something you are not,” said vocalist Daniel Panjwanee. “I think everyone says things in their songs – the kind that would be considered ridiculous in real life, too emotional, too personal…” Daniyal Hyatt elaborated further on the song.
The semi-animated video that accompanies the final version of Chaser with its projected visuals on the band members goes with the feel of the song and perfectly complements it. By itself Chaser introduces a new genre of music to mainstream audiences in Pakistan and is an addictive song that resonates well after it is over.
