Adam Baluch has all the makings of a great pop star. A multi-instrumentalist and a gifted vocalist, Baluch boasts a winning smile, charming stage presence and a sound so sharp, it will help you forget some of the cruder attempts that have plagued the UAE’s underground music scene for years.
His feel-good debut EP, Answers to Questions, released last month, is only four songs long. But brevity certainly proves to be the soul of wit as Baluch ensures that every note sounds bigger than the last, mixing jazz, funk and soul — keyboards, guitars and trumpets are played by Baluch himself — with a pop twist to get you bopping in your seat on a drab workday.
“It was just time to get a feel for what people like and what they didn’t like and what resonated with them. I’ve been working on that since about January-February,” he told tabloid! from London. The UAE-based Ugandan-American, known for using a loop pedal to layer his music live a la Ed Sheeran, was doing a few gigs abroad, including a prized spot in Ibiza. After Ramadan wraps up, he will be back doing his Dubai residency at Zero Gravity, as well as a weekly slot in Beirut.
“Opportunities are coming into play and it’s just about balancing my residencies in Dubai and getting the time off to do those gigs that get you out there quite a bit. I think there’s gonna be a big year of travelling coming up,” he said.
Talking to tabloid!, he told us why he waited so long to release a debut record, who had inspired his vast sound and why The Wailers made him believe he can do this forever.
You’ve been around the Dubai scene for a while. Why release the EP now?
I’ve been doing a lot of gig circuits in Dubai — because I’ve been back doing Dubai for about four years — and things kind of fell into place. Hooked up with management [by] Greg Dufton, and we just slowly started mapping out what we were going to do. The first thing was to get more presence on the web and just get myself out there. An EP was the best thing to do, because I’ve written some new songs and I’ve also got some older songs.
How did you come to the final selection of songs on the EP?
A to Q, I wrote that a while ago, I played that a few times and it worked live. I’m always about trying to make sure that the songs that I do on an EP, or recorded, I’ll be able to do them live, as well. [The song] Bump, I’ve been playing that one live quite a bit, and that one gets people going. And then something like Old in Youth … it was just at a gathering, kind of at a little party situation; a few of the girls there were like, “Can you play something emotional?” I was like, “Uhhh, OK,” so I pulled that one out. The hip-hop one, [Fools], I wanted to throw that in there just to sort of show all the elements and different styles that I play. They all had their place.
In terms of the finished project, how would you describe the sound that you achieved?
Without going into too many names, I think the best way to describe it is “alternative soul”. It does have a bit of a soul feel, but it’s got acoustic guitars in it, it’s a bit folky in some of it, and a lot of it is a bit more groove-based.
Listening to it, I got a Marvin Gaye, James Brown, funk/jazz vibes. Who are some of the people who’ve inspired you?
Definitely Dave Matthews Band. They’re huge in the States, not so much worldwide. Because I use a loop station, I use multiple instruments, so it’s important for me to think about different parts that I can do and be able to combine them all together. Because that band is so big and they’ve got so many different elements to their music and different instrumentations, that for me, sorting it out in my mind, was definitely a big influence.
How was the experience of touring with The Wailers recently?
It gave me that itch where I was like, “Ah, I could do this. For the rest of my life, I think I could do this.” It was just good seeing the response, because we started off in Bahrain, then we went to Singapore, Sri Lanka, back to Dubai and then Qatar. And just feeling the response [I was receiving] was really positive, because you can go and do something like that and bomb. When it’s good, and you end up doing a really good gig and people are really into it, it’s like, “OK, there’s something here that’s happening.” You can feel it.
Streaming music has been a hot topic lately. Why did you decide to put your debut EP up for free streaming rather than sell it?
I would rather be able to get it in as many hands as possible. Giving it out for free is a bit more enticing for someone if they don’t know the artist. And then, if they really like it, they’re going to start following it. Maybe the next track I might charge for. But it’s all about hooking in people and getting them to listen to it and seeing if this is the kind of music that they like.
*Download Baluch’s Answers to Questions at https://soundcloud.com/adam-baluch/
