MUMBAI: Lead vocalist of popular Delhi-based Hindi rock band Euphoria, Palash Sen, revealed that the band plans to document the making of its upcoming full-length studio album. The singer will also soon be seen in the upcoming ‘Aisa Yeh Jahaan’, the first film to feature a soundtrack curated by Euphoria. While speaking to Radioandmusic.com’s Aashay Dalvi, orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Sen, mentioned there are plans to venture into music therapy, after his band’s spiritual album ‘Sharnaagat’ was used in hospitals in Delhi to calm patients.
Excerpts:
Tell us about your upcoming Bollywood film
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I am doing a film called ‘Aisa Yeh Jahaan’, which has Ira Dubey and me in lead roles. The film is very sensitive, and is being directed by Biswajit Bora. It is about nuclear families in the concrete jungle of Bombay, and how they miss their native home. I play the role of an Assamese, who hails from a place called Golaghat and wants to go back. My character is an engineer, but still wants to go back home, and Ira plays the uneducated wife who does not want to go back and wants to continue staying in the city. The music for the film has been composed by Euphoria.
Tell us about the soundtrack for the film
The soundtrack features six songs. I insisted on getting fresh new talent to be featured on every track. The film is a musical, in its traditional sense; all the actors sing their own songs. ‘Gangaajal’ actor Yashpal Sharma has also lent his vocals to a song. The six songs have different attitudes and different directions. For example, we have an Assamese folk song, there is an R&B track that I have sung, then there is a dance number, and there is also a proper hard rock track. Keeping the Euphoria spirit intact, we are trying to put together different songs of different genres. There has been a lot of concentration on the song-writing and lyrics. All the songs in the film’s soundtrack have been written by my frequent collaborator Deekshant Sherawat, my sister, Dalia Sen, and me.
Did Euphoria also compose the music score for the film?
Euphoria has not composed the score for the film. Anurag Saikia, who is a National Award winning composer, and is quite close to the director, has composed the score. It was very difficult for us to compose the score and work on the soundtrack, especially because Euphoria is always touring. So, Anurag has taken inspiration from the music stems that we gave him, and then went forward with composing the score.
With this being Euphoria’s first soundtrack album, have you thought of doing another one?
For now, there are no talks about Euphoria working on another film soundtrack. Right now, we are all concentrating on our new album.
There is a new Euphoria album?
Oh, yes! We have already finished recording one song, are working on recording our second track. This one is going to be a full-length studio album. We are waiting for the film to come out in July, and after that, we will be hard at work in the studio working on the new record. In addition to the album, we are also going to release a new single which is a Bengali song.
Tell us about the sound of the new album
The sound of Euphoria is very diverse, so I cannot tell you exactly how it sounds like. But, the new record will have elements of rock, folk, R&B and modern progressive music.
In your opinion, what do you think indie music needs?
The digital space has given everyone a platform to come out and express themselves the way they want to. That said, there are very few people like Kamakshi and Dhruv Vishvanath, who are trying to come out with something that sounds like them, while others are trying to sound like somebody else. Ed Sheeran is big because he sounds like Ed Sheeran. Or Passenger is big, because he sounds like Passenger. There is no reference point. Even Chris Martin or Adam Levine, you may or may not like their music, but they are big because they sound like them. That is why Euphoria has lasted 17 years; there is no other band that sounds like us. We may not be the best band in the world, but the sound of Euphoria is singular, and that is what indie music needs –singular sound.
Tell us about ‘The Clinic’
So, I have my own clinic, where I practise medicine; and then there is my own studio, which I have called ‘The Clinic’. It is a very ambitious studio. We do not hire out to anyone else. ‘The Clinic’ is only used for Euphoria work. So, everyday, at the studio, Euphoria makes music with the band-members that are present at that time. It is a nice place to get together and jam.
There are also plans for venturing into music therapy.
Give us more details on your ‘music therapy’ idea
I strongly feel that music should be used as therapy. In 2012, we released a spiritual album called ‘Sharnaagat’. My father, the late Dr. Rupendra Kumar Sen composed 3 out of the 7 songs featured on the album. It talks about God as a supreme energy. The album is being used by psychologists across most hospitals in Delhi as a medium of music therapy. Of all the things I have done, this is what I am proudest of.
Besides the new album, what else is Euphoria working on?
What we are doing is the entire album that we create, will be shot and documented and broadcast as a series. This has never been done in India. There is a television channel that is very interested in it. We are planning to go to a new place, and right from the song-writing, to recording, to mixing and creating the music video, everything happens at that place, and it will all be documented. Through this, our fans will be given an insight into how we make music.
What sort of music do you listen to?
I have heard so much Western music throughout my life, that I have a music collection at home that starts from the letter A to letter Z with ZZ Top. I listened to a lot of music till the mid-nineties. I did not enjoy the music that came after. But I have come back to listening to contemporary music because of artists like Ed Sheeran, Passenger, Chris Martin and Adam Levine.
