The popular Bengali band Chandrabindoo is set to release their tenth album, Talobasha, this year after a hiatus of 12 long years. “The tenth album completes 100 songs, which had been a special goal for Chandrabindoo,” said Upal Sengupta while talking about the upcoming album. “We did not realise when it had been twelve years that Noy (2012) had been released.” What makes this album even more special is that it will be released on vinyl records; 350 vinyl records will be released initially. The world of music is watching a revival of vinyl and long playing disks. “Our sound engineer Tirthankar suggested we make it vinyl, and had it not been 12 years, we probably would have not opted for vinyl and stuck to digital platforms,” Upal added. But there is an added bonus for the people willing to buy the vinyl records, because barring the usual ten songs per album pattern of Chandrabindoo, the record will have 11 songs; one extra song exclusive to the listeners, which won’t be immediately released on the online digital platforms. Upal said, “We had planned 13 songs in total, but since vinyl records have a set amount of playtime, we could only fit 11 of them.” The other songs would be released in a later album, he hinted.
Chandrabindoo originated around 1997-1999. They have been ‘nonsensical’, with hints of absurd and romantic in their songs like Geetgobindo, Gadha, Conductor and Emono Boshonto Dine, to name a few.
Talking to The Statesman, lyricist, singer and composer Chandril Bhattacharya commented on how the taste and essence of Chandrabindoo have remained unchanged in this album. “A few songs of love, a few social satires and a few political farces are still present in our work.” Chandril added how the band would stick to their roots and not be some radical new thing.
Excluding their ninth album, Noy, Chandril says that the ideas behind the band have remained the same. Apart from Anindya, Upal and Chandril, the recording will also include the band’s guitarist Surajit Mukhopadhyay, bass guitarist Arup Poddar, drummer Rajsekhar Kundu, keyboardist Shibabrata Biswas and percussionist Saurav Chattopadhyay.
Chandrabindoo’s first album was Aar Jani Na, which attracted the eye of Goutam Chattopadhyay of Mohiner Ghoraguli, who then invited the band to Asha Studios, where they recorded their second album, Gadha. There was no looking back after that. As the city grows older, it has developed its own politics, its own folklore and the pedantic colloquial language. Somewhere in the blurred lines, Chandrabindoo has embedded their style of music into the collective consciousness of the Bengali audience and remains a popular household name among many.