It’s a great time to be a post-rock band in India, but don’t bother telling that to Mumbai’s A Mutual Question – they’ve already heard that. The band’s drummer Aviraj Kumar told us, “What's interesting is that we were asked this same question when we released (debut EP) Eyes Everywhere, almost two years ago. What's great is that post-rock bands have persisted since then and instrumental rock now has a great deal of respect in the scene. So I’m pretty sure it’s not a fad. We owe a lot to various promoters and organizers that have programmed some really great Indian and International post rock bands (and us) to catch the eye of the average listener, but post-rock in India is has cemented its place in the scene, and we're only looking ahead from here.”

The four-member band is now ready with their second release, the five-track EP Strangeloop, which was originally intended to be a concept-based seamless single track. The idea was eventually scrapped, however, since they wanted each song to be more identifiable. Kumar explains about the EP title, “There's a book by Douglas Hofstadter called I am a Strange Loop that one of my friends had brought over so out of curiosity, I started reading up about what a Strangeloop even is. I stumbled across a bunch of interesting things, one of which is an auditory illusion called a Shepard Tone. The concept is hard to explain simply, but it's sort of constantly moving forward only to realize that after some time you're back to where you started.”

Recorded in November 2014 in Pune and set to release on October 20, the band says Strangeloop was written in the jamroom, which explains why it’s got a denser, aggro sound compared to Eyes Everywhere, which dabbled in hints of Hindustani classical vocal lines. Kumar jokes that Strangeloop has a few vocals thrown in as well, “We also have songs that have some pretty cool vocal hooks (like 5 seconds worth) so maybe a couple of pop princesses too (would like our EP).” In one way, Strangeloop presents a different direction for A Mutual Question, who now have jam band The Family Cheese’s bassist Homi Rustumji. Kumar says, “Strangeloop also represents exactly what our live set sounds like so the listeners get a uniform listening experience and can expect exactly what they hear on record, at a live gig.”

Speaking of which, the band is ready to hit Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore on tour to promote the release. Kumar says they will use this opportunity to spread post-rock across India. “We feel that the rest of India really doesn't know us at all and are working towards setting some stuff up in Kolkata and Delhi. As soon as things are firmed up, we'll be announcing.” 

Listen to a teaser to Strangeloop EP below