Here’s a story about stumbling upon a musical marvel independently in the modern era. As a casual drummer, it’s no surprise that Meta has flooded my feed with endless reels of exceptionally talented drummers, the kind that motivate me to hang up my sticks (metaphorically, as it would be difficult to do that physically) because it’s unlikely that I will ever achieve that level of technical ability. I occasionally watch them, impassively, before wondering where my time has gone. But one reel in particular made me sit up straight:
Rather than showing pure technique and chops, this young drummer showed the astounding ability to memorise a complex shifting rhythm and tempo and drum over it in a way that sounded phenomenal. It was reminiscent of one of my favourite drumming videos of all time:
The drumming was really eye-opening, but soon I started to wonder who the original singer was, as she was scatting with phenomenal skill. This is when I stumbled upon one of the best bassists I’ve ever come across in any genre of music. I learned that her scatting is known as konnakol, a traditional Indian music form, but her real strength lies in her bass playing, which she wields forcefully in all of her compositions.
Twenty-nine-year-old Mohini Dey hails from Mumbai and Kolkata in India; her ethnicity and her gender make her an unlikely candidate for a leading bass musician in jazz fusion but it’s a promising sign of the times that more exceptional women are coming to the fore from all parts of the world.
According to her interviews, her parents were both musicians and were determined to have musicians for children, no matter if they were boys or girls. With Indian society being as close-minded as it can be, the Deys were rejected for teaching bass to their daughter and moved away from Mumbai to Kolkata, where the strict music lessons continued. Mohini became a professional musician at age 9, but began to rebel against her father’s lessons, wishing to get into fashion instead. Now she does both!
As I delved deeper, her collab list seemed unreal, with names such as Jordan Rudess, Simon Phillips, Guthrie Govan, Steve Vai and Marco Minnemann popping out at me. How had I never heard of her before? She’d even been reviewed on our site in 2019 as part of Dewa Budjana’s Mahandini, where she appeared alongside Rudess and Minnemann, even lending her konnakol to one of the album’s tracks. It was as if she’d been retconned into recent music history.
In 2023, after fourteen years as a professional musician, she finally released her debut album as a solo artist, in a sleeve adorned with her glittery visage. While I’m two years late to the party, I still wanted to get in on the ground floor of this virtuoso’s musical career and bring some of you readers along with me.
The album begins with the bombastic In-N-Out, seamlessly fusing jazz and metal in a bold opening statement. Dey has assembled a team of world-class musicians for each track, and I was especially impressed by Gergő Borlai’s ability to nimbly yet forcefully reflect both the jazz and metal elements in each track he appeared on. The first track is a showcase for Dey’s raw skill, but she is able to take a backseat later on and allow other musicians to shine, such as her then-husband and keyboardist Mark Hartsuch (they’ve since separated).
With introductions over, Introverted Soul takes the listener to new heights with a blend of konnakol and jazz in the intro, followed by a soaring guitar solo. Fast-paced, exhilarating fusion continues and fulfils the listener before Dey launches into a more forthright konnakol back-and-forth with Borlai, capped with a bass solo. For my money, it’s the best track on the record.
To avoid drowning you in a sea of superlatives, I’ll attempt to quickly summarise the rest of the album, where Dey presents a platter of diverse, shimmering jewels. She proves she can groove with the slower-paced, funky Bombay Bong and Coloured Goddess, but the majority of the tracks follow the faster pace of the opening songs. This isn’t to say that they are indistinguishable, however: her bass sings in the upper registers on Meat Eater and taps out odd meters in Happy to Slap It. The konnakol makes a welcome return in First Food Then You before a complex drum-centred work out in Kick’B’ass. Mohini makes time for herself with the brief Emotion, in which her bass is the sole instrument before the powerhouse finale Happy to Slap It.
This is technical musicianship at its finest, hearty and soulful, waiting to flood your brain with dopamine on each listen. The bass guitar is such an underrated instrument and it’s fantastic to hear it come to the fore here, supported by other musicians who are similarly gifted. Dey sets herself apart from the crowd with her innovative use of konnakol, which she only uses sparingly, seemingly preferring Western rhythms; I hope that she continues to explore how to incorporate this into her music more seamlessly as it occasionally feels like a gimmick which doesn’t blend with the rest of the track. All the same, there has rarely been a finer debut solo album than this, a true statement intent. If she has started as she means to continue, then I cannot wait to see what comes next.
TRACK LISTING
01. In-N-Out (4:45)
02. Introverted Soul (5:28)
03. Bombay Bong (5:44)
04. Meat Eater (5:18)
05. Coloured Goddess (5:40)
06. First Food Then You (4:48)
07. Kick’B’ass (5:29)
08. Emotion (2:52)
09. Happy To Slap It (4:48)
Total Time – 44:52
MUSICIANS
Mohini Dey – Bass Guitar
~ With:
Gergo Borlai – Drums (1,2 & 4)
Simon Phillips – Drums (3)
Gino Banks – Drums (5)
Marco Minnemann – Drums (6)
Narada Michael Walden – Drums (7)
Nishant Hagjer – Drums (9)
Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal – Guitar (1 & 6)
Guthrie Govan – Guitar (2)
Mike Gotthard – Guitar (7)
Rhythm Shaw – Guitar (9)
Mark Hartsuch – Keyboards (1-7) and Saxophone (1 & 4)
Daniel Szebenyi – Keyboards (1 & 5)
Scott Kinsey – Keyboards (4)
ADDITIONAL INFO
Record Label: Mohini Dey Records
Country of Origin: India
Date of Release: 6th August 2023
LINKS
Mohini Dey – Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | YouTube | Instagram
