Bilal Maqsood and Faisal Kapadia are back with another backpack of laidback heartbreak ditties and ambient romantic ballads, full of lush instrumentation and tender quasi-nasal voices that sing of freedom, friendship, open roads and scenic drives.
This time, it is called Dhaani.
If nobody has figured out why this duo calls itself Strings, let it just be said that there is no pleasure like a guitar that knows its chords. There is ample melodious plucking and strumming on Dhaani, brought to you from across the border with a rich fullness and simplicity that music seems to be missing of late.
But Dhaani's sheer delight is in its voices. Plain, old-fashioned singing meets deft arrangement in the 10 tracks on this stylishly produced album, the sixth from the well-loved Pakistani pop band.
The title track kickstarts 49 minutes of listening pleasure. Even devoid of instrumentation, the lyrics would have been musical. They are composed by Maqsood's aunt, the Pakistani poet Zehra Nigah who had, with Gulzar, written the lyrics for Dr Chandraprakash Dwivedi's Partition drama Pinjar.
Collaborations, if you jog your memory, are nothing new for the band, which welcomed the India-Pakistan cricket series earlier this year with a song co-written with Delhi band Euphoria.
Bolo bolo has a special guest from India. Hariharan's soothing lilt lends density and depth to this slow, mellow ballad. His vocals weave a silken weft into those of Maqsood and Kapadia. Another cross-border effort, Pal, features Sagarika, sister of that other singing sensation Shaan. There is strong anthemic singing on this track, into which Suresh Lalwani threads delectable violin sections. Again, Maqsood and Kapadia surf the scales effortlessly with Sagarika. The brilliantly arranged seconds whip Pal into a luscious smoothie.
Kahaani mohabbat ki is bittersweet and childlike, taking the old, weatherworn tenet of love and estrangement, flecking it with fresh sweetness. Mera bichraa yaar has similar sentiments. On these two tracks, Maqsood and Kapadia are at their best.
Chaaye chaaye is pacy, imaginatively layered and delightfully blends pop with a traditional Sufi feel. As in the title song on their previous album Duur, where Maqsood stretched one word, dur, into an entire song, here wordplay and onomatopoeia score plenty of brownie points.
But keep an ear out and prove me wrong this could well be the track that pushes Strings up the charts.
Another damp track is Hai koi hum jaisa, which tries too hard to be New Age. Layer upon layer of mix cannot save a flaccid tune that cannot decide whether it belongs in Brazil or northern Afghanistan. Neither can a rapper with a faux accent.
But for a couple of loose strings, this is a well-tuned effort from a pop band that, six albums down, has safely sailed past its mid-life crisis.
Strings
Album: Dhaani
Label: Sony Music