ead vocalist and chief lyricist of Kashmir, Bilal Ali, confirmed to Instep in an earlier interview that he also aims to pursue a solo music career without dropping Kashmir as a priority.

The signs were already there. Bilal Ali has participated in a number of solo projects such as ‘Nazaray’ with Uzair Ahmed, ‘Be Nishan’ (with Kashan Admani for a feature film called Carma), ‘Aazma Le’ with Young Stunners and ‘Pyaar Banto’ (presented by KDSP) with Ali Hamza.

To that end, Bilal Ali has dropped his newest single, ‘6 Mahine’ that was composed, written, performed and co-produced (with Sinnan Fazwani) by the artist in a solo capacity and without the strong musicianship that comes with his music group, Kashmir.

But perhaps the solo song has a point. It isn’t imitating what Kashmir sounds like and the central themes and sonic vision belongs to Bilal.

With a running time of being just under 2 minutes and 30 seconds, ‘6 Mahine’ is a lesson in how to write a good pop song and the sway of Bilal Ali’s vocals.

He is good with metaphors and he applies that writing here. The outcome is an enriching song that is mature in its verses and delivery with a partially acoustic and a partially playful quality to it.

But you won’t find cheesy nuggets of verses; it is a deliberate piece of writing where the unknown and the known provoke questions. At the heart of the song is the question of peace and whether it will continue to be a dream while being surrounded by smoke. While the song is one of the better, memorable ones to release in 2023, what of Kashmir?

Bilal Ali is adamant that solo music doesn’t mean the end of Kashmir, who have moved on to their sophomore album called Zindagi with Bilal Ali still vocalist and lyricist and very much in the picture. Plans for Kashmir’s new record are underway and as Bilal calls it, his aim to do a solo album will not affect the group in a negative manner. Bring it on!