OAFF (Kabeer Kathpalia) and Savera, Bollywood’s favourite upcoming musical duo, just went zen mode with a recent release and we’re loving it. Matcha, a fun, casual track born out of a lazy evening in Goa during a songwriting camp, is their latest indie release that mixes the casual energy of the trendy drink with the signature electronic music touch of the duo. They chat with us about this fun release, opening up further about its origins, how they introduced it to a live audience and more.
The song has a fun origin story. How do you think it has contributed to the overall eventual meaning of the finished song and its score?
Savera: As you know, we wrote the song on a whim, when we were getting bored and went out for a songwriting camp. And overall, the music and the lyrics lent to that feeling of not taking anything too seriously in the moment. We generally write pretty intense music otherwise, so it helps to kind of unwind while writing these kinds of songs.
You both have a history of successful releases, both in film and as independent artistes. Does the process of a spontaneous indie release help you bring out unfiltered creativity?
OAFF: Yeah, it’s always fun to release something spontaneously. In this case, we had this song for almost two years in our bank and we never really thought we were going to release it. It was sort of a song that we made as a fun thing for both of us. A lot of people heard that song and they were like, “wow, you really should release this song.” And especially with so much conversation around matcha, we thought, “let’s just release it and see what happens for fun.” We just put it out there and we did this fun event where we called a bunch of matcha lovers, fans, friends and we performed the song for them.
How do you, as musicians, stay inspired to create any spontaneous compositions?
Savera: We find inspiration from many different things. For Kabir and me, it’s primarily a lot to do with electronic sounds and nature sounds and a mix and amalgamation of both of them. And then again, we sometimes don’t want to write music that’s too serious or too intense, which is why we write songs like these.
Matcha is known for its earthy, sometimes bitter flavour. What’s the most unusual version of matcha you have ever tasted?
OAFF: I once had a matcha drink, which basically mixed orange juice and the matcha liquid. And I didn’t think that that was going to be good because they’re two very different things. But it turned out to be really, really tasty.
Matcha is streaming on YouTube.