The duo that brought the smash hit single Sukoon (featuring the incredibly talented Shae Gill) to our airwaves has come out with yet another single — Duur Se. This time, Hassan and Roshan have featured the vocal talents of Amna Riaz on their somewhat dreamy and ethereal, electropop number — or so it seemed at first.

How do I describe Duur Se? I know retropop is trending right now as a genre but Hassan and Roshaan inhabit the spirit of Pakistani boy bands from the ’90s to the T in Duur Se. Obviously some very modern production magic has gone into creating that recorded-on-tape sound and feel of the song overall.

The song opens with the main chords playing on a guitar with a slight echo effect as if it’s being played in a large empty building.

You hear the sound of a cassette going into a player and the echo is gone and the bass comes on. The same music has a more refined sound and we hear Amna start the song with her sweet voice.

In Duur Se Hassan and Roshan channel Pakistani boy bands from the ’90s to pop perfection

Hassan joins in (he sounds uncannily like Atif Aslam in quite a few places, his voice has that same quality to it). But he really shows off his powerhouse vocals in the main chorus:

Duur Se/ Bulaye teri yaadein/ Na jane teri/ Awaaz din raat aaye mujhe/ Kahin duur se [From afar/Your memories summon me/ I don’t know how, your/ voice calls to me day and night/ from afar]

The song is a romantic pop song about the beautiful angst one feels when one is in love. In terms of lyrical messaging, there is nothing more to it. But it’s a light, fun song to listen to. And thankfully, doesn’t sound overproduced on the electronic front, and so is separate from some of the other contemporary music being released nowadays.

Amna Riaz’s contribution in the song seems more as supporting Hassan’s vocals. This song shows off his vocal chops entirely. I initially thought it might be more of a duet, but it is not. And Amna complements Hassan’s sections perfectly, when needed.

Duur Se is an easy to listen to modern pop song. It might harken back to a sound made popular decades ago, but it’s all original and still sounds very modern.

As a duo, Hassan and Roshan have been quietly and consistently releasing one banger after another, building up their repertoire without any additional promotion and just letting their music speak for itself. And their music speaks of their skills and talents pretty loudly.

Published in Dawn, ICON, May 14th, 2023