Mosko’s debut EP, Teeth, has been a long time coming. The Delhi dance-rock band’s initial duo of Kavya Trehan and Moses Koul have been touring under the moniker since 2014, and their EP release last month has come after three years of work and a reworked lineup (now featuring drummer Suyash Gabriel and bassist Amar Pandey). After so much energy, and effort, and labour, is the payoff worth it?
Short answer: yes.
Teeth is a solid showcase of the band’s unique energy. It’s a mish-mash of ideas and inspirations, jumping around not just across songs but within songs. The album plays fast and loose with the hyphen between the band’s two genres, shifting between danceable rhythms and headbanging beats. It’s far, far too short a release, but offers so much in that small amount of time.
First up is “Smooth,” which perfectly describes Mosko’s sound. The whole song alternates driven grungy guitar riffs (think Nirvana circa “Lithium”) with a more poppy, whirly 3-3-2 organ rhythm. The song is constantly shifting rhythms and beats, but instead of sounding disconnected it just works, because of the way Gabriel’s incredible drumming and Pandey’s competent bass-work backs up Trehan’s powerful vocals. I can only imagine how much of a crowd-puller this song would be live, just by virtue of how far it carries its energy.
Up next is “Mosey Pants,” one of the two tracks co-written by the band’s earlier bassist Abhinav Chaudhury and drummer Karan Malick. It’s upbeat, with some highly infectious guitar licks and solos, yet with just the right number of breath-catching moments to help you keep up. Perfect crowd-puller.
“Ydek” shifts down a gear or two in tempo and beat, while maintaining the energy levels. It’s a measured gathering-of-the-clouds sort of sound, which never quite breaks the levee but never quite needs to.
The final track, “Drance 109,” starts off sounding vaguely Arctic Monkeys and ends up sounding like organised chaos (in a good way). Trehan’s weaponised voice is the lynchpin that ties the explosion together, with space left over for Koul’s guitar work to fill in the rest with a sound ranging from the sharpest electronica to the muddiest of metal.
The one drawback to Teeth as an EP ends up actually being the strength that’s going to ensure Mosko’s continuing success: it’s an album that’s guaranteed to sound better live. Mosko are forging ahead as primarily a duo, but the EP promises a duo that will fill up the stage. Teeth is an absolute tease of a release but in the best possible way, a promise of something more when aided by a bunch of massive speakers and a roaring crowd.T
Top Five Records 
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