If you spent a fair part of your college life outside the gates like this writer, you’d recognise Anish Sood from his posters that would pop up overnight all across the city come November, the college festival season in the mid-2010s. On the back of collaborations with pioneers of EDM like David Guetta, and features with the likes of Hardwell and Afrojack, Sood’s performances made for the perfect party evenings for the young, passionate crowd that was just taking to EDM. A decade later, as the musician prepares to play at the Anjunadeep Open Air this weekend, expect to witness a whole new avatar. Sood’s new minimalistic, sound-centred, Indian classical-infused identity — Anyasa.

“Anyasa originates from Sanskrit; it means effortless,” Sood shares, as he recalls his journey of shedding the ‘Anish Sood’ identity following the pandemic. The Goa-born musician explains, “The vocal pop music I was making in the 2010s was a good fit for the time and the audience it was crafted for. With time, I outgrew that sound and when the pandemic hit, I took the opportunity to perform a hard reset,” he shares. Sood’s music, following suit, now features lighter production with Indian classical influences, most noticeably in his newest EP Apollo (2023), featuring a sitar section by sitarist Asad Khan. “I realised you don’t need fireworks to put up a great show. A dark room, a minimal light set-up, and the right audience-music mix can make for a memorable performance,” he adds.