Parekh and Singh's new album 'The Night Is Clear' carries diverse musical touches

It strikes you as different yet there is something strangely familiar It is a vibe that the Kolkatabased duo of Parekh and Singh has built their identity on Formed by Nischay Parekh and Jivraj Singh the bandrsquos compositions carry the comfort of the familiar blended seamlessly with a touch of quirkiness throughout their visual and sonic aesthetic Their third fulllength album The night is clear also carries diverse musical touches fancy themes and imaginative lyrics that are compellingReleased in September the ninetrack album has already become one of the most talked about productions in the indie music space this year The group spoke to us about their creation process style and aesthetics Excerpts from our interviewThe album marks a new exploration of themes and dreamscapes What were you looking to create differently with the album this timeNischay Parekh For The night is clear we wanted to create an album that felt like a fantasy novel that was quite expansive Musically we wanted to keep things quite simple actually We did not want to overcrowd the arrangements in the album We wanted each song to be subtle with a touch of natural sounding instruments like the woodwinds and stringsThe lyrical melody of the songs stand out King and Nightingale were particularly impressive The former has shades of the storytelling narrative that you mention Could you describe it furtherNP It was a biographical song and I wrote it about dealing with travel anxiety I guess I wanted to tell a story and make it sound slightly more dramaticThe use of chord progressions synth and harmonics sounds different How did you work those in Jivraj Singh The harmonic content at the core of the album is Nischayrsquos work His musical education has refined his innate sense of melodic and harmonic construction that has consistently developed with his musicality What I bring is a slightly wackier approach to pure sound design I relate to music in terms of architecture sound and effectIt is always a conversation between the two approaches that sums up our work He builds the core structure and bigger blocks I create the cracks and fill those up with unlikely content mdash field recordings my voice percussion that are not always used as straightforward percussive elementFrom the Wes Anderson influence to the suits what inspires the visual aesthetic of your videosNP There was a central guiding principle for our music and it applies to our visuals as well We like attention to detail Our suits have remained constant in our photography performances and videos as well Then again with this album there isnrsquot a set of music videos We wanted the sonic experience to be the driving factor here Also there was no plan in place to tell the story of the song in a music video The visuals are also often a collaborative process produced with filmmakers and designers But we do appreciate fans loving it We see ourselves making more visual experiments in the futureWas this aesthetic always in place even when you started outNP When we started out there was no clear idea It was just me with an electric guitar Jivraj on the drums We had no idea of how to produce our music or present ourselves As friends we had a lot of common interests at that stage and it just locked in I donrsquot think we started curating these elements until much laterWith an India tour coming up what are the expectationsJS Hopefully the performances are true to the songs and allow the soundworld to expand even further The aim is to be true to the recorded music but also take it some place differentDoesnrsquot the presence of the audience add a variable to the performanceJS The work of the performing artiste is to strike a balance between engaging the audience and also remaining slightly detached to do justice to the music we playNP There are certain bands and music that are fuelled by the crowd activity and their energy There is also other music performed as pieces mdash classical or chamber music for example We have fans who will sing along to our favourite songs as well mdash that is a part of our performance mdash but the excitement is of presenting the new album I think we are taking the approach where we want to showcase our music over performances Log on to The Night Is Clear on spotifycom Parekhandsinghcom