Let’s wind our clocks back to October, 2010 when the thought of creating music had actually walked into our minds. We were barely aware of the fact that the thought would become a permanent settlement altogether in the days to come. We don’t quite subscribe to the idea of coincidence, but as we progressed with our music we came to believe that there are things which lie in wait for the opportune moment to happen.
We, as humble students of music were voracious listeners. We listened to the works of a good number of people who actually redefined and revolutionized music in this great hullabaloo of stereotype compositions which is not only ubiquitous, but also unavoidable. To name a few, the compositions of John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain, Shankar Mahadevan, Anoushka Shankar, Karsh Kale, Trilok Gurtu, Ranjit Barot and the ilk instigated our endeavor.
Calls were made, sessions were fixed up, and the three of us (Ishan, Avik and Avirup) got the ball rolling initially. For us the process has always been one analogous to resource pooling; each member would complement another’s area of interest. We ensured that we had ample space for every member to bring out their best. So at times Ishan would ask Avirup to break the odd-timed rhythm signatures into structures which can elevate the song, Avik would suggest a tweak or two in the guitar lines being played by Ishan or Ishan would direct Avik to include certain notes in the vocal lines. Shaurjya was responsible for streamlining our sound into a consolidated piece with the right balance of instruments and effects. There were other people who contributed a lot, though sporadically, to our music – Ram Kumar Venkatesh, Supratik Chatterjee, Aviraj Sen and so on. But this wasn’t cakewalk. There were times when we were blunt if something seemed to fall out of place.
Before we progressed with a song, it was Ishan who would always visualize a picture or a phenomenon that could be portrayed in the form of a song. Accordingly, depending on the mood we would boil down to a scale (major/minor) followed by an eastern classical raga that befits the scale or guitar mode agreed upon. The construction of lyrics (if any) and the progression of the vocal lines ran parallel to all these activities.
We have also tried to cover a wide spectrum of sounds and tones to emphasize the diversity in our music, our approach being purely experimental. So, the audience is bound to find a couple of songs on the ambient or mellow side with clean tones on the guitars, and some on the graver side with metal riffs and heavy drums. We have entwined each of our tracks with a thought and tried to reproduce the same through our music.
A final note about us – we do believe in simplicity, but we have stumbled time and again to achieve the same. In the process all we could muster was simple music with a tinge of the nebulous. In the end, the world will continue to be our canvass; it is up to us to choose what colors to paint it with…
