From knocking on wood to kicking on walls for a song on her debut solo album Spit to hosting intimate gigs amongst friends to promote the release, Mumbai-based singer and actor Monica Dogra never likes to settle in her ways. Even now, after the release of Spit on Universal Music India and playing once in a while with her electro-rock band Shaa’ir + Func, Monica says she is not sure when she will get around to writing more music. She says, “I have that urge to learn again. I want to go to school. I want to meditate more. It is also my personality type.”
Dogra has been working on Spit for nearly three years with producers ranging from Delhi’s Gaurav Raina (from the Midival Punditz) to London-based Prash Mistry aka Engine-Earz and Germany’s Robot Koch. Dogra also recalls she had multi-instrumentalist Karsh Kale become a part of the album through coincidence. “I was in the studio with Gaurav and Karsh was there as well. I wanted him to lay down a horn section and play something awesome. We were just looking for fun sounds.”
On the song ‘Pockets’, Kale is in charge of a different kind of instrument – opening and closing a bench. As one can tell, despite the influence of master producers, Monica was still in full control. She says, “Since I was 17, I’ve been going to Karsh and (now) he’s allowing me to tell him what to do. That was really wonderful. I felt like my fellow musicians trusted me enough to be the one guiding the creative process.”
She adds that her solo album is not only her efforts poured into music. Monica says, “No matter what you do as a solo artist, it can never be a purely solo effort. It is always a team effort, it is a collaborative effort.”
The nine-track album’s first taste was delivered by Dogra’s collaboration with Robot Koch on ‘Rise Up and Run’ in 2014. But after that, the next release only came up after Shaa’ir + Func’s full album promo cycle of Align in the form of a trippy music video for her song ‘Say What You Like’ this January.
Monica explains the lengthy wait saying, “I wanted to wait for everything to be right and that took a lot of time, obviously. There were definitely moments where I thought, ‘Even if I don’t release this, it will be okay.’” When the wheels finally began to turn for Spit , Monica hosted listening sessions in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.
She says, “If things start to feel the same, I feel very uncomfortable. I realize I don’t have the capacity or the money to hire out stadiums but I do have the ability to take some time and step away from the formula that a lot of bands are using right now.” She jokes that it is almost like a seva to fund everything from sound production to catering for her gigs.
In addition to working on the album, Monica has also been honing her acting skills in both independent and Bollywood films. Her latest is a short role in Himesh Reshammiya’s new movie Teraa Surroor, which releases on March 11. “It is a small appearance role with a lot of actors I am excited to be alongside, such as Kabir Bedi, Naseeruddin Shah and Shekhar Kapur.”
