Likewise, Hussain rarely lets fly, the one exception being a trademark ripping solo on "Sakhi," his propulsion in contrast to McLaughlin's slowly spun, six-note mantra. The guitarist's solos, on "Kabir," "Tara," and another more expansive one on "The Search," all bear the maestro's hallmarks of fluidity and melodic invention, but in the main his playing is lyrical and understated. Honing half a century of bringing Western and Eastern traditions together, McLaughlin's dreamy, synthesizer-like waves couple harmonically with Mahadevan, a feature that permeates all the tracks. Yet Mclaughlin's chief role in this trio is arguably as an orchestrator. It's a sound McLaughlin has been experimenting with for some time, notably on Floating Point (Abstract Logix, 2009). The English guitarist turns his back on the pure acoustic and electric guitar sounds of Shakti/Remember Shakti, and instead, via computer, channels his guitar through sine waves, oscillators and filters to produce a soft, vibrato-less tone, not a million miles away from an electric flute. On the contrary, most of the tracks feature princely solos from Hussain and Mclaughlin, but the predominant vibe of these six bhajans is laid back, serene even. That's not to say that the trio keeps a lid on improvisation. What we have then, is a collection of bhajans, or lyrical Indian devotional songs, sung quite beautifully by Mahadevan, with Hussain and McLaughlin largely in supporting roles. Is That So?, however, is markedly different music from Remember Shakti's frequently exhilarating interplay, so much so, in fact, that McLaughlin offers a disclaimer of sorts on the inner sleeve that gently deflates any such comparisons. After all, from the original Shakti's earliest incarnation in 1973, through the Remember Shakti years from 1997 to 2014, McLaughlin and Hussain were the only constant members. And many, no doubt, will eagerly seize upon this John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain and Shankar Mahadevan project as a scaled down Remember Shakti. Five years later, in early 2019, the band reformed with violinist Ganesh Rajagopalan for a one-off concert in India, sparking a new lease of life for the band. When mandolinist Uppalapu Srinivas passed away in 2014 it seemed to signal the end of Remember Shakti.