The year 2019 is coming to a close and many of us like to look back, see how much did we achieve and how much we did not. For Mrinal Paul, going by the moniker of MOKSH the list of achievements is definitely long.
A multi-lingual official debut mixtape titled, BLACKOUT, was released on December 12, 2019, on all major streaming platforms. The mixtape catalogs all his EP and hit singles.
The year has been all about ticking things off the bucket list for MOKSH, His debut EP Twenty One earned him a feature in UK’s avant-garde music magazine, The Wire. Two of his songs are now part of the award-winning web series, Bhak.
The multi-lingual rapper, lyricist and entrepreneur from Shillong, grew up in a lower-middle-class family. He uses music as a tool to address the issues that plague the society. His topics vary from rat-hole mining to martyrdom to drug abuse – issues very common for the society of Meghalaya.
BLACKOUT is a fine example of lyrical abilities and his versatility in switching flows, its highs, and its lows.
“Its not that I am always drawn to the bleaker and darker aspects of the society but since my first EP Twenty One talked about the ostracization by the society, I would like to keep highlighting the things which people normally tend to overlook,” said the artist.
MOKSH has compiled a sonic tapestry of the times we are living in. It is a documentation of varied experiences and mixed emotions most of which have been narrated from a third-person point of view with a personal touch and overtones of his conscience has been telling him. The tone of the album is set in the present of a mid-20-year-old youth but it resonates the stories of a teenager and that of a 30 odd-year-old millennial. He delves into the lives of the people around him and crafts a tale encircling love, hate, war, relationships, turmoil, civics, polity, death, and a captious society.
“Each of the song took my creative potential to the extreme. However, Circles did take some extra effort” said the rapper. The lyrics of this song is deeply rooted in MOKSH’s evolution to what he is now. “The song also talks about the biased music industry mostly in the form of nepotism,” he added.
Circles is amongst a plethora of other equally “lit” songs in the BLACKOUT roster. It also features Who are You, Best One, Mox We Lit, Tamasha among others.
The entire project has been produced and engineered by Northeastern producer/beat-makers Yugi Beats, Mac Beatz, Hadrian Shullai and A.S Prod. The creative direction and album artwork have been done by Guwahati based independent illustrator/designer, Abhishek Choudhury.
With many projects in the pipeline, MOKSH is all set to continue doing gigs in Imphal and Kolkata for the next year.
