Ragawerk

Guitarist Max Clouth lived in Mumbai for three years before striking up a musical partnership with drummer Martin Standke a decade ago, and the Frankfurt-based duo have, since then, performed extensively in Germany and India. Their debut outing as Ragawerk seeks to meld elements of raga with jazz improvisation and electronic atmospherics.

It gets off to a promising start with opening track ‘Ab Yeh Kya?’ with Clouth’s guitar trading sleepy licks with guest sitar player Mehtab Ali Niazi over a sumptuous drone, a luxuriant bass riff and a subtle mix of traditional Indian percussion and Standke’s funky drumming. Vocalist Varijashree Venugopal and violin player Manas Kumar double up on a swooning melody, dropping out for an understated jazz piano solo and the whole thing bobs along with an unhurried heat-haze insouciance. But it’s kind of downhill from there. On most of the remaining tracks, the Indian influence is muted, to say the least, receding in favour of weedy funk vamps draped in mellow guitar noodling and subliminal synth bleeps. They sound like music you might vaguely register in the background while having a massage. Not even the vocal presence of Indian-born disco legend Asha Puthli on the soporific ‘Mangal’ does much to enliven things.