Midival Punditz Returns After Five Years With Full-Length Album ‘Love & Machines’ (EXCLUSIVE)

It’s been five years since Gaurav Raina and Tapan Raj aka The Midival Punditz put out a full-length album. “Love & Machines” dropped on streaming today and blends Indian classical, folk and Sufi traditions with electronic sounds. Long-time listeners of the genre will be aware of their contributions to Indian electronic music. 

Presented with the Punditz’s signature electronic twist, the album is being described as “an eclectic journey through styles ranging from Ghazal, Sufi, Folk, to Indian classical.” It sees them collaborate with artists like Malini Awasthi, Papon, Shubha Mudgal, Shruti Pathak, Sukanya Chattopadhyay, Pt Ajay Prasanna, Vidhi Sharma, Subrat Sharma, and Vishal Vaid with songs in varied languages: Hindi, Punjabi, Rajasthani, Bengali, and Urdu.

Since debuting in 2002 with the album “Midival Punditz”, Raina and Raj have been instrumental in shaping the electronic music scene in India and beyond. Their influence extends across Hollywood, Bollywood, TV series, video games, and commercials, with their music featured in numerous major films and compilations. Anyone who has been to their live shows will attest to their showmanship

To celebrate the launch of “Love & Machines,” they will also embark on a multi-city tour across India, hitting ten major cities including NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Jaipur, Pune, Goa, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, and Guwahati. 

In an era of singles, putting out a full-fledged album is always a risky enterprise. Gaurav says, “This wasn’t a decision we made based on prevailing consumption trends. We set out to create a cohesive, singular body of work—something that only truly makes sense when experienced in its entirety. In fact, we chose not to release any singles ahead of the album. We wanted the whole thing to arrive in one go.” They chose not to release singles ahead of the album, choosing for the “whole thing to arrive in one go.” Tapan believes, “An album shows a truer depiction of where our minds are at musically from the last release till now,” but avers, “ It’s not at all risky in any era - as long as it’s done honestly, the audience always connects with it.” 

It’s been a while since their “comeback”. Gaurav put it down to “a lot going on in our individual lives and career paths that required time and focus. For instance, I was establishing myself in the film scoring space with projects like ‘Made in Heaven’ and ‘Dahaad,’ alongside my partner and now wife, Tarana Marwah (aka Komorebi). We also got married a year ago, which, as you can imagine, took quite a bit of planning.” Tapan prefers to not term the return a comeback, adding, “we just keep composing music and have been doing shows and releasing material in different shapes and forms, sometimes as commissioned works or as singles and EPs. We treat the album release very sacredly and only when we feel we are feeling the vibe properly is when we actually take out the required time and fully immerse ourselves into the creation of the album.” 

On picking collaborators for the album, Tapan Raj says, “It usually starts with the music composition and while we are doing that, the singer or instrumentalist collaborators start coming to mind quite organically. It’s not a planned thing at all.”  Raina says, “In some cases—like with Papon—we had more in-depth conversations about the track beforehand, making it a more involved process. Ultimately, we wanted to work with people who bring a distinct soul to the music and help make each piece truly unique.

Promotions for “Love & Machines” will have the Punditz “planning a tour later this year, where we’ll take our new live show across the country,” shares Raina