اندھیرے میں

Towers have released what appears to be the canonical recorded version of their song Andhere Mein. I’ve linked to previous recordings of this song: what can now be read as an early demo and a live performance for Smog City Sessions. This final recording is lifted by Daniyal Ahmed’s flute and Zahra Paracha’s production. I love the melancholic warmth and subtle optimism of this song.

Old demos with cult followings can haunt artists. The desire to complete the songs fights directly with the fear that the song’s ethos will be lost in that process. It is easy in this situation to sit on demos for ages. Noori in particular comes to mind when discussing this. Their old demos became ghosts for the band, and then in their final form often became half-versions of themselves. The band itself seemed buried under the weight of their own talented younger selves. It is encouraging therefore, to see a newer generation of artists so confident in the speed at which they can release music.

Unfortunately a stunted live music scene has been handicapped further by Covid, and musicians have less chances to shop around early versions of songs and iterate. Some are now creatively using Instagram and Patreon to share early sketches of their work. The permanence of Youtube and Spotify do not offer the same safe space to test out unfinished material. The interplay of technological medium and artistic strategy is so interesting to watch, because of how it forces newness.