Permeating a sort of early 2000s flare into the modern day wave that
independent music so badly needs, As We Keep Searching strikes gold with their
original material. With straight up post-rock sensibilities stemming from
frontman Uddipan's distinctive croon, his visions of the world, are presented
in a musical form that is a captivating culmination of his own emotional
experiences as a young man and his ensuing struggle as a third world country
citizen. Topped with a sultry, "trip-laden" ambience it's stuff for teen boys and their middle-aged
Dads to blaze with, under the sun. Accompanied in the majority by a huge lot of
samples and loops par favor Shubham Gurung and Ashwin Naidu, AWKS' music
presents a blissful kind of simplicity that might be lost in the age of
electronics and screeching guitars. "I believe as we move into the new
age, maybe a welcome advent of some kind of fashionable collab of genres would
be excellently apt. Although we as a band couldn't care less about such trends.
We are about the emotion that we felt while listening to tapes as young music
enthusiasts and that's it." says frontman Uddipan Sarmah.
Not true to their (band) name however, very little is obscure and uncertain
when it comes to the band's work ethic. They've had it all figured out, right
from the word go- the release of their debut album last September just a month
after they had come together as a band, the four city tour they did last month
or the relentless online campaign they've been working on since early 2014. And
that with their workable midpoint of being unpolished and accomplished at the
same time manifests a perfectionist streak in them because clearly it is all
intentional, further offering the
impression of an act that is fully-formed and ready to arrive.
Their debut album 'Growing Suspicions' sounds like mixtape of snippets of music of the same kind
from lands far and distant, but mainly Indian, obvious because of the Hindi
vocals. Only one will find it impossible to place the sources of these pieces,
giving an extremely minimalist sound a somewhat otherwordly element. What might
garner one's attention even further is the fact that this band was never once
in a room together, even a month before they had finished recording this album.
Yet they are as close to the
band-as-a-singular-unit template as one could possibly imagine. "It's like
one of those sudden relationships that you always knew would happen but in our
case we didn't know when and with whom. From day one, we've been in an
extremely comfortable position as an ensemble and I guess, in a way, the
catalyst for the music was in itself the longing to find members that were
willing and passionate to share such a space" mentions a philosophical
Sarmah.
With an already emerging fan-base providing the focal point, the band's recent
four city tour seemed as though served as a perfect compliment to their attempt
to solidify and captivate larger crowds, especially ones who remain unaware of
their being. Uddipan however feels differently "Our music does not try to
convince you that we're worthy of being your new favourite band but it attempts
with full vigour to stick with you beyond the 55 minute stream or the set-list.
We believe in making a deeper personal connection and we'd love to move people
with what we do but it's not a race or a challenge to us in any given way. We'd
rather have twenty people come to our gig and emote with us rather than two
hundred who have just come for free drinks. Ofcourse I'm not saying we are
choosy or nosey about our listeners but we'd like to move one step at a time
and develop a truly close knit group of listeners who are in complete knowledge
of what we are and why we do what we do musically and otherwise....and I think
that can only be acheived if we can make people vibe with us and not to us."
Their work so far finds a more than satisfactory ranking in terms of
quality too. If not on a middle ground, theirs is certainly a varied beast of a
sound that's been pushed to the best of it's limits. And we find the need to
mention this fact because this is a band that has truly stuck by it's DIY ethic
and yet never faltered in it's commitment to deliver. Frontman Uddipan very
fittingly plays the role of the producer and 'aptly' because he does this for a
living. He is widely known in Ahemedabad for providing independent bands an
outlet into the national circuit by means of quality production and promotional
assistance. Additionally, he is also working on a series of gigs in the city in
collaboration with Pepsi MTV Indies. "Before I started AWKS I was working on
my solo stint. I was recording my debut album with my friend Sanjay andI
realized a lot of independent artistes wanted to record an album and put it out
for people to listen to just like me. That's when it struck me that while I had
managed to do it for myself; I had acquired considerable skills to help someone
else do it as well. That was the genesis of Blue Tree Studios. I figured out
the logistics of the plan and went ahead with the idea. For the first time,
even my parents were supportive of the plan because as an addition to just
playing music I had started to produce, teach and market music for independent
artistes and it seemed like a pretty solid business proposition. So me and
Shubham sat for months together and figured out everything from recording
techniques to how the studio should look." Very silently BlueTree Studios earned
themselves a formidable reputation and a huge number of rabid supporters
throughout Ahemadabad. Very fittingly when they started shop, their schedules
went batshit as if the initiative had transcended the normal rules of a
business. “What people from the rest of the country don't realize is that a
subculture very much exists in Gujarat just as much as it exists anywhere else.
It's very close to Mumbai and Delhi and has a huge community of musicians and
music enthusiasts." Uddipan is a few weeks away from starting a tour as a
producer as well, after spending the vast majority of 2013 in a room pushing
buttons; undoubtedly he seems enthusiastic and full of cheer. "The idea was
never to restrict myself to Ahemadabad alone. I want to make music a
possibility for independent artistes from all over the country."
As We Keep Searching will play in the first edition of the New Wave
Festival in Goa this November.
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