FYI catches up with members of the latest band on the Indian electronica scene
FYI catches up with members of the latest band on the Indian electronica scene
When Vineet Malhotra met Rajan Adlakha at a school reunion, little did he know that the two would eventually get together to form their own band.
"The only thing we knew about each other was that we had attended the same school 14 years ago," says Rajan of Shadow.
Barely four months down the line, the duo secured the third place in the best electro/dance act category at the recent Asian Indie Music Awards (AVIMA) 2010.
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| Rajan Adlakha and Vineet Malhotra of Shadow |
"When we uploaded our music on Myspace we had no idea the CEO of AVIMA, Siva Chandran, would call and ask us to participate in the competition," says Vineet.
"We were the only Indian band nominated in our category, and were competing against experienced artistes including Indonesian band Bottlesmoker and DjayPee from Malaysia. Not bad at all for a four-month-old band," says Rajan, smiling broadly.
It's been just over a month since the win, and the duo have already started work on their album.
Shadow, which categorises its music as World Progressive Sound, combines genres including new age, ambient, down tempo, world, and fusion with electronica.
After three months on the social networking site MySpace the band has had more than 10,692 profile views and over 9,500 song plays for their compositions Sunrise over Everest, Seduction and Lonely Star.
One of the songs they have recorded for their album combines Punjabi folk with House beats, while another unites the Spanish guitar with the indigenous ektara.
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"Several musicians continue to play hard-core electronica in India, but there are so many more genres to experiment with," says Vineet.
The two are working at breakneck speed and putting in long hours to release their album in record time.
While the band is happy to see an increase in their number of fans, they have a word of caution for anyone hoping to plagiarse their sound, "Attempts to plagiarise or simulate our music will spell serious trouble and only make us richer.
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Please refrain from getting inspired," quips Vineet before heading towards the darkness of the recording room.
Growing in each other's shadowThe band's name Shadow is derived from a song Vineet wrote ten years ago.
They stuck with the name because they believe that neither of them is greater than the other, and that they continue to thrive only in each other's shadow.
Music by Shadow is available on
www.myspace.com/shadowambient
