Imaad Wasif is an LA based Indian musician. He has released six solo albums as well as numerous collaborations. Credits include The Folk Implosion, Lowercase, Alaska! Grim Tower, EFG and ACID. He is also a touring and recording member of Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
His new 2022 release the appropriately titled “So Long Mr. Fear” is
comprised of 11 tracks with a runtime of around 37 minutes. Overall, So
Long Mr. Fear is more of an acoustic, piano driven affair, emphasizing Wasif’s vocal stylings and lyrics. This release has a stripped-down singer/songwriter vibe, which is a departure from his previous indie rock outings with EFG and earlier solo works. This release was produced by longtime collaborator Bobb Bruno (Best Coast) and mixed by Lewis Pesacov (Nikki Lane, FIDLAR, Local Natives). Guest vocals are provided by Jen Wood, as well as Karen O (Yeah Yeah Yeahs).
Track 10 “Jealous Kind” with swirls of synth and phaser guitar lines has an almost melancholy end of summer vibe to it. With lines such as, “something in your memory keeps your island in the stream, if you walk alone, you’ll never know who you are” with lines like this there is definitely an introspective meditation on memory and knowing oneself.
Track 6 “Poet of the Damned” with backing vocals from Karen O (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) has a darker lyrical quality with lines such as, “I caught you crawling out of a newfound wasteland, to see my downfall as the poet of the damned.” With another line such as this one, “I’ve held the key to the doomsday machine” Wasif makes his intention clear that this track is not going to let the light in. With primarily acoustic guitar, backing vocals and limited instrumentation the vocals and lyrics are front and center.
The album having been created during the pandemic without many opportunities for in person collaboration may have contributed to a more introspective outing than would otherwise be the case, in fact Wasif brings up this challenge when discussing his tracking with collaborator Bobb Bruno, Wasif states, “We built a tunnel through the goddamned pandemic… Though we never saw each other during the making of this, we wereconnected in the ether, sending songs back and forth to arrive at their completion.”
Line up:
Bobb Bruno – bass, guitar, drums, percussion, synths
Greg Burns – pedal steel on ‘fader’
Evan Haros – sitar on ‘elemental’ and ‘regeneration’
Karen O – backing vocals on ‘poet of the damned’
Imaad Wasif – voice, guitar, piano, Nosferatu organ
Jen Wood – backing vocals on ‘fader’