hey came, they sang, and they conquered certainly applies to Kashmir. When Pepsi resurrected Battle of the Bands in 2017 with a different set of judges (Meesha Shafi, Atif Aslam, and Fawad Khan), Kashmir was selected in the first season because they had the potential contenders who could go all the way to victory. The music series saw various changes in format and the judges panel before coming to an end after 2019.

Being the first band to win in the new iteration of now-defunct PBOTB in 2017, expectations from Kashmir remained high.

The amicable end of Strings as a music group or Zeb and Haniya for that matter meant that there was space to fill.

The alternative rock band also had the winning amount and were promoted by the brand as well as multiple high-profile producers such as Xulfi (though not restricted to him) who worked on their first album, Khwab.

Some songs that were a part of the album were fan favorites already since Kashmir had performed them during various episodes of Pepsi Battle of the Bands 2.0

Fast forward to the present, and Kashmir is working hard to drop their second album, Zin-dagi. What has changed is that they do not have a corporate brand backing them in a fiscal fashion.

Kashmir has – once again – found a place on the concert circuit. Bilal Ali, the chief singer-songwriter is also pursuing a solo career.

A solo career of the vocalist and torrential rains that had a devastating effect on the group’s studio does not mean the end of Kashmir. They are not deterred from releasing a sophomore album, confirmed Bilal Ali to Instep. With a plan to release Zindagi (that will feature eight songs), the seventh song in that direction, ‘Jaan Lo’ has been released by the band in an audio format.

For their last single, the boys are mulling over the idea of a music video and whether they should release the final song from Zindagi with or without it. Instep can confirm that their final song will be released right after Eid.

They have released other songs from Zindagi in an audio format as well. What their songs – the released ones thus far – make you realize is that you are an observer in a musical story where each song is a depiction of an emotion or an inner world or an outer world of a character.

Surprisingly, the alt-rock band has embraced synthesizer-laced songs without going overboard. The sound is dissimilar to the last record and that is a courageous move.

The band hasn’t made music videos since ‘Ayi Bahaar’ and ‘Chal Hutt’, so, while those two songs might resonate much more with listeners in this age of visuals, Zindagi doesn’t need more than two, in my opinion. Their songs tackle myriad themes including love, loss, longing as well as a richer sonic texture embedded with optimistic verses. ‘Jaan Lo’ is a strong example.

But as a character in a story that is Zindagi, ‘Jaan Lo’ is an excellent, textured one.

Vais Khan, Zair Zaki, Shane Anthony, Usman Siddiqui, Ali Raza and Bilal Ali should be proud of the songs from Zindagi they have released so far.

Will they continue to cater to the disenfranchised like their first album? Yes. And you only have to head to their YouTube page to believe it, where listening to the richer sonic landscape and finding moments of solace and soul-fulfilling music is present across the multiple tunes.