But it isn’t just in lyrics that Soulmate is talking evolution. The sound on their album has also moved closer to the energy of their gigs. “Our audiences always told us that the live sound of our gigs should find its way into our studio recordings. That is why we wanted our musical and lyrical content to have that vibe,” says Kharbangar. While Wallang’s guitar and vocals evoke the classic blues sound in the track Come ‘round my house, Kharbangar is all power and sweetness in Set me free and Your sweet loving.

Soulmate came together seven years ago when Wallang was recording a Gospel album in his studio. Kharbangar was one of the singers. “I heard her and was hooked. I found similarities in the way she sang and the way I played my guitar. And that’s when Soulmate happened,” says Wallang, who was a part of popular acts including The Great Society and Mojo before he started the band.

Wallang found his influences in The Beatles, The Shadows, Tom Jones, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Zappa, BB King and Lou Majaw while Kharbangar grew up listening to Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. Over a period of time their musical sensibilities got bound by a common thread of blues-rock, soul and funk. The band played their first concert in Umiam, around 16 km from Shillong, in 2003. The name Soulmate was taken from a song Wallang had written, The blues is my soulmate.

In a few years, they started looking for an audience outside their beautiful hill town. Kharbangar remembers it was anything but easy. “People were sceptical about us singing the blues and they said we would never make it,” says Wallang, who apart from being a musician is also a full-time single parent. “No one was willing to pay for flight tickets for us to travel. We used to travel by train,” he says.

... contd.