So finally after a long wait which seemed to be eternal, EP is back, and this is probably their second come back as a band. They have released a new single with a video named as ‘Ajab Tamasha’. As the title hints, this song and video is once again about the social evils residing in our society and day to day life.
EP has a long history which dates back to early 2000 when 2 separate bands Entity and Paradigm collaborated and formed EP. This was originally an 8 member band, making them a huge phenomenon in Pakistani music industry and produced the chart busting album ‘Irtiqa’ which was going to be remembered for a long time. But like all other good things that come to an end, EP also disbanded around 2007.
And for me, that was the point where it was virtually all over for EP. And my speculation was proved to be pretty apt. Since then they did make a comeback with 5 of the original members on board in 2010 but they were again onto the sleep mode with the band finally coming up with another video ‘Ajab Tamasha’ on 1st of December after numerous delays and once again with 2 more members leaving the band.
So the band that started with a huge team of 8 young guys is merely left with 3 of them and seeing their recent outing this would be too much to compare them with original EP. This recent track and line up looks more of a Rubber Band than EP.
Coming back to the track, ’Ajab Tamasha’ is about the frustrations faced by an ordinary man living in our society that has to face numerous odds while moving ahead in life. The video features Hassaan Khalid on bass, Salman Albert on lead guitars and Ahmed Ali Butt on vocals. There is a surprise inclusion of Farhad Humayun (of Overload fame) on drums who is appearing as a guest musician for the track and does his job superbly as always. The video is again directed by Ahmed Ali Butt that is shot completely indoors with flames flying all over giving an intense look.
Another noteworthy thing in the video is the showing of video clips that depicts the media hypocrisy that is pretty untouched topic in recent times despite many similar social awareness songs releasing.
If judged from a musical point of view, this track has got a pretty upbeat tempo and would get along with you after couple of hits but in the same way it is pretty easy to forget with its very mediocre and average lyrical content that cannot be attributed in any way to the previous work of EP. With so many inspiring socio-political anthems coming in recent times such as Mein Tu Dekhoon Ga, Ab Khud Kuch Karna Pare Ga, Ankahi and even EP’s earlier Shor Macha, this track is not up to the mark when it comes to giving the message as the lines sung by Ahmed Ali Butt, with lot of enthusiasm and bulging his eyes outwards, don’t really leave any impression on the listeners.
But one thing should be appreciated about these guys that they came up with the video song when no other local mainstream artist is coming up with something new due to the fear of not getting proper coverage in current circumstances.
This is a pretty natural problem for the bands who face multiple break ups, to keep up with the expectations of fans specially in the case when your leading vocalist walks away but with all the hype that they created before its release and multiple postponements which added to our curiosity, this is simply not the stuff that any of the true EP fan was expecting. This can be declared as a decent track but as far as the whole overview is concerned, there was neither any ‘entity’ nor any’ paradigm’ in it. This is literally an Ajab Tamasha by the remains of EP.
2 replies on “Entity Paradigm – Ajab Tamasha (Single Review)”
Such an Amateur track. This band used to be one of my favorites. I think they should use another name because the real essence of the band is gone. Their songs used to be inspired by bands like Tool and A Perfect Circle. Simply disappointing.
EP was defined by the exceedingly uncommon guitar progressions it had, perhaps the only “rock” band which actually existed. The track was total crap acc to me, the lyrics were too general, and the vocalist lacked the punch required. I hate to say this, but the Pakistani music industry is on a steady downhill from my perspective. All niche -worthy bands have disbanded or are totally inactive. The remaining few end up selling off themselves to bollywood, which is quite strange, because as an indian I fell in love with the pakistani sound because of its difference from that off indian sound. Anyways, Xulfi just lost his lead vocalist. You never know, we might just end up being insanely lucky too.