Sometimes, life takes a turn and that’s when you realise something interesting about yourself and the art that you practice. For singer/guitarist Abhijeet Tambe, a particularly low period in his life made him choose simplicity.
After the disbanding of alternative rock project, Lounge Piranha, that he was part of, this musician stayed off independent music for a while before instinctively picking up the acoustic guitar to go into a singer/songwriter mode.
“After 2011, depression hit me and I didn’t want to be part of a band anymore. At this point, I started composing and doing sound design for theatre and dance practitioners,” shares the Bengaluru-based artiste.
He elaborates, “This opened up new horizons for me. As different from writing original compositions, this process involved addressing what another person (client) wants and I learned to make music for someone else’s story than my own. When I went solo, circa 2015, I figured that I also had developed a habit of making drafts of tunes before letting the ideas settle into a song faster.”
Since Abhijeet has seen both sides of the coin, there is no one better to ask how different the songwriting process is in a band and as a solo artiste. “When there’s a group of people making music together, you can always walk in with half-baked ideas and expect it to evolve into a song. Now, I’ve to do it all myself,” says the 43-year-old.
On the bright side, he’s invested more into what he thinks is one his strengths—lyrics. More than an obsession with making words or lines rhyme, he now focusses on delivering quality content and says he’s more conscious about how the song structure affects the flow of the storytelling. Over time, Abhijeet has also collaborated with Michael Antony Dias and the Bengaluru-based act Mad Orange Fireworks to create different versions of his songs that can work with an ensemble.
But, why hasn’t he recorded his tunes till now? “I’d like to record my music with a rhythm section but would also like to incorporate more instruments. I’m working on this currently,” informs the musician, who is also a trustee of Toto Funds the Arts, a platform for awarding independent artistes from various disciplines.
An interesting thing about Abhijeet’s trip to Kochi is that he’s reviving his old habits of being a motorcycle rider. He’s excited about his newly modified machine (to carry his gear) and is exploring the chances of touring and playing music. At his upcoming performance, the audience can expect numbers like Prodigal Son and We Shall Arrive at the show.
On October 6 from 6 pm. At Plug N Play.
Checkout Abhijeet perform Prodigal Son here: