There are albums that entertain, some that challenge, and then there are a rare few that feel like emotional excavations. After Us, The Flood the debut full-length album by India-Paris based progressive rock duo Mr. GNG belongs firmly in the third category. It is a sprawling, fearless, and deeply introspective work, the kind that doesn’t just explore darkness but dares to linger in it, illuminating its contours with guitars, synths, and sheer vulnerability.
Madhulika Gupta | Team BeatCurry
Formed during an impromptu online collaboration in 2021, Ishan Dave (vocals, guitars, bass) and Abhilash Sreekumar (drums, keys, backing vocals) have tapped into the chemistry they once shared during their college band days. Sooner, it evolved into something undeniably current. Something that makes After Us, The Flood so compelling isn’t just its technical upperhand (though that’s here in spades), but its emotional honesty. Each track has a deep story ingrained, often heavy, occasionally hopeful, but always sincere.
Opening with “Cognitive Haze,” we’re immediately dropped into a maelstrom of rhythmic complexity and lyrical self-doubt. Abhilash’s first lyrical contribution hits ambiguously but hits like a slow burn, beautifully all of it captures the rawness and melancholy of post-breakup reflection. Guitarist Aatrey Bhatt’s legato solo adds a flourish of virtuosity without veering into self-indulgence. From here, the album only grows to become a more immersive experience.
“Paralyse,” featuring Rudy Ayub, leans into heavier territory, both musically and thematically. The track throbs with frustration and despair, while the instrumentation flirts around within the controlled chaos. In contrast, “A Call Away” shifts gears, offering a softer, more nostalgic reflection on young love, the one that almost makes you elevate from the real world. Written by Ishan over a decade ago, it anchors the album towards a timeless emotional terrain.
Listen to ‘Paralyse’ on YouTube:
Songs like “Room 103” and “Mr. Invisible” creates the window for a bystander audience to peek at a glance of the band’s talent for weaving emotional storytelling into dynamic compositions. “Room 103” unravels like a confession, that is raw and remorseful before spiraling into an intense instrumental climax. On the other hand, “Mr. Invisible” begins with a stripped-down, almost vintage charm before shifting into a bold, synth-driven storm.
Listen to ‘Room 103’ on YouTube:
Then comes “Shimona”, the track that feels like the heart quietly beating at the center of the record. It’s tender, wistful, and steeped in the ache of unresolved love. With soft slide guitars and beautifully layered harmonies, it leaves a kind of quiet imprint, both musically and emotionally. More than just a song, “Shimona” haunts the entire album, her name slipping in and out like a memory of a long-lost lover, you can’t quite let go of.
“The Show Must Go On” flips the emotional script. It’s the album’s defiant breath of fresh air, like a spirited reminder that life doesn’t end with heartbreak. It bursts through the heaviness with a message of strength and moving forward, not as an empty mantra, but with hard-won conviction.
Listen to the entire album, After Us, The Flood on YouTube:
And finally, “The Melody Song”, which is a sprawling four-part suite, closes the curtain, but not before setting the entire stage ablaze one last time. It begins in familiar territory where a guitar-driven power ballad echoes the emotional powerlifting of “Silence That Remains.” Unexpectedly, the song unravels like a theatrical finale, slipping through moods and textures with a kind of fearless grace. If one looks closely, you may point to the quirkiness, playful marimba passages, and moments so tender they seem suspended in air.
Listen to ‘Silence That Remains’ on YouTube:
Across its four movements, it recycles fragments from earlier tracks, not only the melodies, but ghosts of lyrics and half-felt emotions, as if the album is taking one last look back before it walks away. Lines like “Gone, all hope is gone” and “I had it all made, but still I tore my life” sting with finality, but they’re balanced by flashes of resilience and acceptance, saying “Letting go, come what may.” It’s in this careful stitching of the personal and the theatrical that the track earns its place but not just as a conclusion, more like the kind of reckoning. The album may be done, but this final chapter lingers like a whisper in an empty room. A song for endings, yes, and also a promise that the story never really stops, it just changes form.
With After Us, The Flood, Mr. GNG is offering an emotional map to all the gritty, reflective, and beautifully disjointed ways life can appeal to us. It’s a record built on contrasts and crafted with intent. In an era that often favors surface over substance, Mr. GNG has delivered something that feels genuinely alive.
Listen to After Us, The Flood on Spotify:
All information sourced from official press release as received.
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