When Mukul Deora came out with his first album Stray, everyone expected him to churn out more hip-hop albums in the next couple of years. But Deora, known for his versatility, had different plans. We sometimes saw him do the light and sound show with Shezaad Dawood at the UK Cultural Olympics and at other times organising an exhibition of experimental art where the audiences were put in a situation where they smashed up a beautiful Contessa car.

But the musician in him was at work for three years, before he came out with his second album What Heart. “I wanted to reinvent my sound from the ground up. So I had to teach myself new instruments and techniques till I was satisfied,” he says as he gears up for the launch of his second album on October 21 at the Blue Frog, Parel and an ensuing eight-city tour.

With success, failure, love, heartbreak, existential crises, and boredom being the inspiration for his second album, Deora is definitely content with the final outcome. “It reflects my mixed influences— rock, pop and electronica. So we have some vocal techno, some electric lullabies, some dirty funk and lots of distortion,” he states while defining his various roles as a musician in the album. “Rapping, singing, producing and song writing, all tickle a different part of me. But ultimately they all contribute to an overall emotion that the song has to reflect.”

Comparisons with his first album are inevitable, but

Deora isn’t upset or complaining. “Because I know the two albums are very different. It’s a sea change; my last album was written using the piano as the primary writing tool, and has me speaking and rapping, while my second one is guitar-based. And I am singing in it,” he says. He further adds, “They also capture very different periods from my life, something that any listener can hear. Stray was hip-hop; What Heart is techno-soul.”

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