When your band’s name itself indicates an inward-looking approach, it is no surprise to hear folk rock band Swarathma’s bassist Jishnu Dasgupta tell us that their new album is much more about inner monologues than it is about social and political issues. “It is a more inward-looking album,” Dasgupta says.
Sure, Raah-e-Fakira sees Swarathma take on godmen (‘Aasman ki Dukaan’) and school performance anxieties (‘Beta Sweater Pehno’), but the rest of the moody seven tracks offer a refreshing philosophical perspective. The philosophy of looking inwards also seems to have extended to not just the themes, but the process of making the album as well. Raah-e-Fakira was entirely self-produced by the band, who are also self-managed and keep a lot of their content in-house.
Among the evident results for the band is that production costs of renting out hours at a studio and buying time from audio engineers has been cut down massively compared to their previous album, 2012’s Topiwalleh . Dasgupta adds, “We have spent way less money and that is because we have internally built up the knowledge and resources and confidence to do it ourselves.”
Apart from being mastered at London’s Pierce Rooms, Raah-e-Fakira was recorded in part at guitarist Varun Murali’s Red Music Box studio in Nagarbhavi, with frontman Vasu Dixit recording his vocals at his home studio set-up. Dasgupta says with a laugh, “This album was made between Nagarbhavi, Cooke Town and Kumaraswamy Layout.” Murali adds on a more serious note about the advantages of having one’s own studio, “Everything was planned on a calendar. There is comfort, you are doing it in your house and you know your set-up well – you know what mics, plugins and settings you want to use.”
Dixit confirms it was a similar advantage for him as well. “There are times when I’ve recorded and I’ve not felt too good about the take, so I took a couple of days to re-look at them and re-record,” he says.
With new drummer Joel Milan Baptist in the fold and percussionist Pavan Kumar KJ taking a leave of absence from the band to concentrate on other projects, you can tell Swarathma have huddled together to stay even closer than ever before to make it matter. While they have help from long-time friend and mentor Amit Kilam from Indian Ocean on ‘Sangat Ki Rangat’, Dasgupta takes over the mic for ‘Kaash’, which is about missed opportunities and taking chances. When listened to in its entirety, Dixit says there’s a sort of “graph” in the sequence of songs. “It starts with ‘Raah-e-Fakira’ which is heavier, and then ‘Aasman ki Dukaan’, it starts on a high. According to most of us, it’s one of the better-produced tracks on the album.”
Not one to forget their Kannada roots, they eventually decided to write “Jangama” with Kannada lyrics thanks to Dixit. “We thought yes, we should put at least one Kannada song,” Dixit says. Dasgupta adds, “We had this one jam where Vasu spoke about the song and what it felt like and the journeyer in all of us, the common man in all of us. I don’t understand all the words, but I like the bounce and the cadence.”
With the album now streaming and Swarathma back to being regulars on the gig circuit, the next step is releasing the comic book they worked on with Kolkata-based art collective Ghost Animation. It is an alternative to a CD, and as printing, distribution and pricing is being figured out, the band is eager to let fans have a physical memento for the album. Dasgupta says, “They’ll be available at shows and we’ll also bundle it with the digital download on our website.”
