Welcome debutant Paul J, who has come up with youthful songs in Srikanth - Bhavana starrer Kizhakku Kadarkarai Salai.
Having composed music for over 100 jingles and many devotional albums, Paul J has come to filmdom with vast experience.
He seems to have the right understanding for the medium.
Stanley, who has a good knowledge of music, has rightly extracted good work from this new music composer. However the inevitable influence of Ilayaraja and Rahman cannot be ruled out in Paul's works. The music director has also introduced some fresh talents through the album. Veeramani, Boney Chakraborthy and Swopna among them seem to be impressive.
Paul J has made it an engrossing album.
Kancha Penna (Veeramani, Pallavi)
Begins with a bang. The music composer has come up with a brisk score, inspired as he is by a classical raaga. The peppy beats accompanying the songs remind one of the popular Sakkarai Inikira from Rahman's New. The good use of flutes and mridangam with drums and bass guitar creates a new feel. Veeramani and Pallavi are very adequate to the task of rendering it all in a brisk manner.
Kengini Mingini (Grace, Suresh Peter)
Cheena Thana Grace is back. And what more the vivacity is very much there. Suresh Peter, with his anglicized style of rendering, does a neat job. A racy song, it has both the singers full of zest and zeal with a vibrant orchestration. A swell number for those who love their music to be robust and raucous.
Oru Koodi (Donnan Naray, Ganga)
Any album is incomplete without a soft romantic number. Seemingly inspired by Eric Clapton's style, Paul has composed the melody with just a guitar and a drum doing the trick. Watch out for Donnan Naray, who is a fresh voice with immense potential. Ganga is also not far behind.
Vada Vangada (Jassie Gift, Veeramani)
Ever energetic Jassie Gift is at his helm in the song. Begins very closely accompanied by traditional percussion instruments of Kerala, the song goes on to pick up momentum. A perfect mass number, the song on Ayudha Pooja has free flowing music with catchy tunes that sit on our lips in just one listening.
Ajarey Ajarey (Boney Chakravarthy)
It's been a longtime since Tamil cinema had a song inspired by Punjabi Bhangra. Paul has filled the void by coming up with this song. The Bhalle Bhalle kind of song is perfectly foot-tapping, catchy and tries a fusion between Punjabi Bhangra and Tamil folk. Paul does have in him the fire to try variety.
Eno Edhil Eno (Jaydev)
Paul has gone the Ilayaraja way for this song. A soft melody that describes the hero's love for a girl has absolutely no instruments accompanying it. Jaydev's voice resembling Ilayaraja's has lyrics which would appeal to the youth.
Welcome to ECR (Swopna, Paul J)
The rocking song of the album. With electric guitars, trumpets, a westernized chorus and peppy beats, it is the perfect one to top the audio charts. A song describing the beauty of East Coast Road (the movie's title) has peppy rap. A perfect one for the dance floors. Swopna, whose voice resembles Vasundara Das, gives all her energy to render the song, which is appealing.
On the whole, the songs reflect the abiding ethos of ECR --- racy and youthful.