The idea was to take the songs Ahmad wrote after the release of the supposed album 'Retrospection' and drop them as an EP.

After Mehdi and Manav joined the band a lot of the existing ideas evolved: The idea of releasing an EP changed to dropping songs as singles of which ‘Pool of Lies’ was the first. Manav spoke to musivv about the back story. "Post 'Insomnia,' the band’s next project was to take tracks from the EP and release them within a month and a half."

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The group changed multiple sections in ‘Pool of Lies’ and by the end of the process, tracking and writing were accomplished after a month. By the end of it, the track had a staggering 140 layers and since the tracks were self-produced, they faced a plethora of challenges in trying to get the perfect mix. Initially, the band never worked with a magnitude of 140 layers, the process was new and nothing short of draining. "It took another month to reach a mix that satisfied everyone," Manav recalls.

Lyrically, ‘Pool of Lies’ is an expressional story that talks of an individual in the first person, one that has been through a tremendous amount of pain. Pain that was inflicted by someone close to the individual, someone the individual thought could never hurt them. "I think at some point as humans we’ve all connected emotionally and physically. That being said, we’re a relatively complex species, whilst sometimes having another person next to you to understand everything that you’re going through can be the best thing, other times it can be the worst," Manav explained. It eventually enters a toxic environment where the individual tries to hold on to something that doesn’t exist anymore. As humans, we become habituated to a person being around us and when they’re gone, we’d do everything to hold them back.

The track’s lyrical story was inspired by both Saud’s and Manav's relationships recently ending: A pure reflection of what they felt in the moment and how they reacted. "If I could’ve done things differently, I would but in those moments, that’s all I knew," Manav says. He believes the emotional value this track carries made it personal to everyone in the band. "As artists, we hope to convey our story and hopefully, we’re helping people go through reality regardless of how harsh it can be,: he added.

"Writing this track was super fun though." Ahmad, Saud and Manav met at the University of Wollongong to write lyrics for this song, and for hours together they were only able to finish the different directions the song can go. "I think that process built the creative chemistry between the members. We’re able to pull the best out of each other while being around each other, which is honestly something I’ve longed for in a
band for years," recalls Manav. With the track being emotional, a series of experiments to enhance the experience was inevitable. "We added a violin solo mid-track. Whilst most of us liked the idea and the way it sounded, a
few didn’t." Towards the end of the production, Mehdi added some electronic drums as an experiment, to make it sound more like a jetpack was a yes by the periphery.

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Writing this track was super fun though

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One of the bigger experimental ideas was to get a featured artist on board. "I remember telling Ahmad about removing Saud as a backing harmony and getting a female vocalist. If I’m thinking of female vocals, as a musician, I cannot get over how Ananya sounds," says Manav. As someone who was impressed by Ananya's vocal skills, Manav reached out to her for a possible collaboration. The idea was she would harmonize with Manav's vocals on the song's bridge which she executed brilliantly. Moreover, she added a double layer to the choruses.

"I think ‘Pool of Lies’ would not sound even close to the same without having Ananya on board. The cherry on the cake was when Mehdi pulled an insane solo after the bridge. We as a band were in awe when we heard that. Insomnia is what we started with, ‘Pool of Lies’, in our opinion, has taken it a few notches higher. From here on, we only aim to create better while tuning lower," Manav concluded.

'Pool of Lies' is available on all digital music download and streaming platforms worldwide.

Read musivv's feature on Callous Minds here

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