Kiara Chettri captures the grandeur of sadness in her riveting video single – Why

Kiara Chettri captures the grandeur of sadness in her riveting video single – Why

Kiara Chettri tryst with music started early in her life or one can say early enough, as she released her first single You’ll See at the tender age of 15, back in 2019. All of 17, she’s got 6 singles and a full length 10 track album to her name already, streaming across leading platforms and she hasn’t even completed her schooling as yet! The grandeur of sadness as an emotion and English musician Sam Smith’s songs played the role of ‘muse’ for the seventeen-year-old emerging singer-songwriter Kiara Chettri’s brand new video single Why. Roughly, half a year ago, Kiara concluded the release of her full length debut album titled 4 am, winning significant praise and acknowledgement for her talent as a young singer-songwriter. In her own words the journey in the world of music so far has been ‘wonderful, overwhelming and motivating’. “Since people liked my album a lot, I did feel some sort of pressure to do better in my next release and I’m very excited about my new single. While the process of writing and producing ‘Why’ was going on, I was confident that people would really like this song because it is so different from anything I have ever done before, be it the music, lyrics or vocals. There are so many instruments in this song that I have not used in any of my songs before and all of this excites me a great deal,” says Kiara. As for the video, she adds, “I do have a habit of visualising the video of  the songs I’m writing, so I had a good idea of what the video of Why should look like and I was involved in every step of the process, end to end. I wanted it to be full of colour, especially because people are likely to expect dark and gloomy tones in a video of a song like this.” The NCR-based musician hopes that people understand and resonate with the emotion of the track as much as she has. In fact this new release has become her all time favourite. Talking about the inspiration behind her new single, the school-going songstress, while preparing to go back to classes says, “The inspiration behind this song is Sam Smith. I think all of his songs have a very grand element to them which is what inspired me to make a song like ‘Why’. The music gives an orchestra-like grand feel to heighten the feeling and emotions of the song and lyrics.”  More about the artist Inspired by the likes of Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, Little Mix & Lauv among others such as Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande (whose styles she admires), Kiara sees pop music as a natural fit for her expression. She seeks to inspire her listeners with her sonic musings, which range in the vicinity of pop, alt rock, electric pop music and acoustic. Kiara’s multi-layered debut album titled 4 am, explored the themes of hope, confusion, despair, fear, aspirations, young love, dreams of the future and even betrayal among other subjects, in a collection 10 songs in English and a few in Hindi. While a few tracks of the album were released previously as singles, the remaining were released all together on November 24th, 2020, concluding the album project. The title of the album comes from the young singer’s favourite time to write music — in the wee hours at 4 am; which is not just a title of the album but also a song in the album that looks at bitter-sweet conversations with self. Highlights: Kiara often does well-populated live sessions on instagram and has even performed at a packed live concert at the prestigious EEMAX Global Awards organised by EEMA (Event and Entertainment Management Association) in 2019. Her previous releases have brought her a place in sought after playlists such as Women of Indie India, Rolling Stone – Hit list specially curated by Ehsaan Noorani, Radar India and boxout.fm‘s 100% Indian Alternative – Best of 2020 among others. Kiara Chettri the new rising star’s new release, Why deals with melancholy, in an intriguing, cathartic arrangement that was released globally on audio in June, 2021. Close on the heels of the song topping global radio chats (no.1 spot on World Indie Charts & no.2 on Euro Indie Charts), the school-going singer-singer-songwriter shared a stunning video of Why on July 28th, 2021.

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 Of The Lotus & The Thunderbolt – the latest single by Midhaven 

Of The Lotus & The Thunderbolt – the latest single by Midhaven 

Of The Lotus & The Thunderbolt, the second album release by Midhaven. Blending traditional Indian strains with traditional & progressive Metal by the Mumbai-based trio. The seven-track concept album witnesses the musicians diving head-on into the layered concept of time itself, as they pay homage to Shiva as Mahakaal – the ‘ruler of time’. The band describes the album as ‘a universal, yet personal experience that is being conveyed in the form of heavy metal. The world hasn’t had enough metal from this side of the planet.’ In a way, the three-piece act thinks of this album as their humble attempt to present a new shade of ‘Indian’ Metal music through tracks such as the Para Bhahman & Codeman, Zhitro, Mahakaal and Bhairav among others. The concept record follows ‘the single but universal soul’s journey to realization, with symbolisms that are deeply rooted in the collective Indian subconscious. It’s curated in a manner wherein each song appears as though it’s a chapter in a book, conveying individual meanings that ‘when heard together, form a holistic understanding of the universe’. Karan R Kaul (vocalist & guitar player), talks about how their muse — the very quest of existence led the trio here, “I’ve spent my whole life in awe of existence itself, the sheer scale of things and how it ties into our ancients and their observations. Astronomy or sci-fi, it’s always the same question, why? And as a musician, your inspirations come from the very things you consume, so writing an album with a historian & a proghead time-keeper was the most natural thing that happened to me. Somehow, cosmic time and ancient history subconsciously guided this band into lyrical & musical concepts.” Bandmate Aditya Mohanan (Guitar player/vocalist) concurs, “Being an archaeologist/historian, the fascination with ancient philosophy and metaphysics was quite organic. So when you’re constantly engaging with ancient perspectives on how time is a continuum and multiple universes exist simultaneously, it’s hard to not want to write an album about it,” he says. Although the band had finished recording the album back in 2019, the Covid-19 pandemic thwarted their plans to release the album with a tour and they utilized the delay to perfect the record further. Once the second wave hit the country, the band felt that they had waited enough and decided to release the album on July 8th, 2021. The album was mixed and mastered by renowned Australian producer Forrester Savell, who has worked with several global musicians of repute (namely, Animals as Leaders, Make Them Suffer, & Karnivool among others). Forrester’s input brings out a sense of refinement, all the while keeping pace with the raw, analog ways of the recording process — bringing soul to the sounds of this eclectic album. The exploratory, raging and visceral record is accompanied by stunning artwork that encapsulates the theme of the record beautifully, making the booking a physical copy of the album – ‘a must’ for the discerning listener. Visualised and executed by prolific indie artist Gaurav Basu (alias – Acid Toad), the artwork explores the lyrical subtleties of the album in a visual manner. The painting stylistically borrows from the Tibetan Buddhist ‘Thangka’ paintings and depicts a contemporary yet personal understanding of time in an anthropomorphic sense. Contained within the gut of Mahakaal is a mandala that reflects the thematic progression of the album, while enabling the perceiver to make sense of how each song ties into each other to form a comprehensive whole. Bedecked with heavy symbolisms, the artwork does not merely serve a descriptive purpose, but adds to the composition of the theme that both, the band and the artist, are striving to convey. The album launch was preceded by a video single release of roaring heavy-duty track called Primal Song (track 2) that looks at anger, pain & frustration as mere echoes of the ‘primal fire’ that binds all life together —  on June 21st, 2021. Founded back in 2011-12, the band released their debut EP Tales From the Tide in 2013. Soon after they dropped their first EP, Midhaven became one of the first few indie/Metal bands of the country to be signed by a major multinational music label such as Universal Music Group (UMG). Their first album Spellbound was released by UMG in 2014. Of The Lotus & The Thunderbolt – concept The album, in essence, is about time. Not clockwork… universal, cyclical time. We’ve grown up with a belief system that has repeatedly told us that things that have happened will happen yet again, and again, and again. Time is seen as a continuum, and there are more universes than just this one. These are subjects we’ve debated and discussed from time immemorial. From the ancients, right down to us, this is how time is experienced where we come from. So naturally, when we started discussing lyrical concepts, time is something that all subjects were ultimately pointing toward. We were acting from an awareness that in this grand circuit of the cosmos, the self is constantly recreated in every moment. It’s not just about time, it’s also about a very personal experience of that time, through the aeons as life itself. It ultimately boils down to how time chisels to perfection the one universal soul that finds itself echoed in every living being. The band members summarise their experience: For reasons not entirely known to us, it felt as though time channeled itself through us for the creation of this album. We were merely conduits in this process. Track list | briefs  Para Brahman | Echoes from the previous cycle. ‘Why?’,the ultimate inquisition, is the running theme of the song. Man is privy to all the information, yet there’s loss and anguish in his screams, setting the tone of the forthcoming exploration that is the album. Primal | An expression of the ancient fission that life felt when it separated from itself. Anger, pain, frustration… are all merely echoes of primal fire that binds all life together. The urge

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 Antariksh’s latest video single Jee Le Zara

Antariksh’s latest video single Jee Le Zara

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Antariksh, a popular Hindi-Rock act based out from New Delhi, is back with a new video single titled Jee Le Zara, which was released globally. The video of this song was considered as a youth anthem to encourage young folks to break free from the shackles of illogical customs and societal baggage. The song features 5 real life artists as the protagonists from across the country namely Brigit Jose (Poet), Rebecca D’Costa (Hula Hoop artist), Jia Singh (Wellness Consultant), Anveer Mehta (Skateboarder) and Anna Vyas (Dancer/Model) alongside the brand. The video has been shot in 4 different cities like Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai and Goa. Vocalist Varun has dedicated this track to his recently departed father. “Although, the lyrics weren’t initially written with this thought in our heads, but now it almost feels like I’m singing the song to him. Jee Le Zara, reiterates the most important thing that we as humans should try and do — live in the moment and live like there’s no tomorrow” he says. [/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqlivsuPLr4&list=RDPqlivsuPLr4&start_radio=1″][vc_column_text] The Vocalist hopes that the track inspires people to live a life on their own terms without worrying too much about the destination. Jee Le Zara has a Pop/Rock vibe with inspiring lyrics and anthemic chorus with an edgy dubstep section thrown in which comes across as a surprise element. The track is performed by Varun Rajput (Vocals), Joshua Peter (Keyboards & Vocals), Dan Thomas (Drums), and Shrikant Biswakarma (Guitars). Antariksh is rated by MTV as one of the best Hindi Rock Artists from India and is renowned for bringing multiple authentic genres and styles from the West to mainstream Hindi Music. The Music Band was born out of experiment etched in desire. At the beginning of 2000s the band’s founder and vocalist Varun Rajput along with his friends & former bandmates (Mridul and GT) felt the need to bridge the gap between their two favorite styles: progressive rock and Indian contemporary sounds in his mother tongue – Hindi. Coming from a Progressive Heavy Metal background, back then it was natural for Varun to want to reach more people with his programs in rock musical sensibilities but not get limited by a language barrier. The band’s evolution or the indie scenario in India opens up a fair bit, Antariksh is now set out to embrace the multi-lingual tag, going forward. Antariksh’s latest video single Jee Le Zara [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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