Kumail - Mudbrown (2026) [Hi-Res]

“Drawing on jazzy beats, disco and R&B, his arrangements are an exploration of feel-good soul” Resident Advisor

“he has ascended to the very top of India’s burgeoning culture of electronic music” Grazia India

“this is a transcendent vibe that can just as easily come straight out of Mumbai as it could Anytown, U.S.A.” Afropunk

An R&B/Soul producer, composer and vocalist from Mumbai, India, now based in Lisbon, Portugal, Kumail makes groovy, raw, music for the soul on his sophomore album Mudbrown.

Starting out with drawing loops on his laptop keyboard, he carried those little ideas with him when he travelled, recording musicians whenever he could, before bringing his band together in Lisbon to complete the record.

Mudbrown refers to the river in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, where Kumail lived for five years, “that mud brown water the people say never leaves you, once you taste it. It’s about paying respect to a place that’s always gonna be a part of me, even if it gave me just as many scars as it did blessings.”

Blending his love of R&B, soul, funk, bossa nova and heavy African influences from his time in Kinshasa, Kumail flipped this into something raw and new, as he explains, “It’s not clean or perfect, it’s real. Some tracks are heavy, some are love songs, some are angry, but it’s honest.”

The album explores themes of struggle, transformation and love as an anchor. On Vultures feat. Nickson Dufala, True to You, Off My Back, Tear It Off feat. Fly Anakin, Bring It Back and Money, the idea of being broken down, stripped bare and surrounded by people who want to take advantage, is set against finding the strength to rebuild, reclaim identity, and start afresh.

Vultures feat. Nickson Dufala sets the tone of the album. Recorded first, it sparked the idea for the whole project. The lyrics, spoken in Lingala by Nickson Dufala, a chef from Kumail’s restaurant, are about his five years spent in Kinshasa and what it meant to get through them. “That time gave me everything but also stripped me bare. It’s about being constantly surrounded by ‘vultures’, people waiting to pick me apart even when there’s nothing left to pick apart. But in that same space, rebuilding myself back up and finding a new sound, a new life and freedom.”

Featuring American rapper Fly Anakin, Tear It Off is about taking off your mask and revealing your authentic self, “that’s when you’re most powerful and most beautiful.” It’s also about people who act like allies but are really predators. Fly Anakin took that idea and flipped it in his own way.

The songs On Something, Lady, Darlin’ and Get Down, delve into the concept of love (especially the presence of his wife) as a stabilising force in the midst of chaos; protective, grounding, sensual and ultimately life-giving.

On focus track Lady, Kumail compares his wife to DR Congo, reflecting on the way she glows like the sun, moves like the river, smells like the rain, and is tanned like the mud (mud brown). The song also juxtaposes her with the things around him that were rough; the guns, the dirt, the streets. “It talks about the beauty and the chaos, and she’s the one who brought the soul back to me when it was gone.”

Heavily influenced by D’Angelo, Kumail also cites Marvin Gaye, James Brown, Curtis Mayfield, J Dilla, Erykah Badu and Aretha Franklin, as musical inspirations. “The list is long, but it all comes back to that old school soul energy.”