Pune-based post rockers Aswekeepsearching release their third album Rooh at the end of September. The four-member band has frontman Uddipan Sarmah on guitars and vocals, Shubham Gurung on guitars and keyboard, Robert Alex on bass and Sambit Chatterjee on drums. The third album comes after Zia (2017) and Khwaab (2015). The band just wrapped up a multi-city tour were fans also got their hands on their new apparel line, Zia. Excerpts from our interview with the band:
Tell us about the upcoming album, Rooh.
Robert: Rooh is the simplest and best musical representation of who each of us are, at this point in time. Fully inspired, with all the experiences and conversations we had, we started work on the basic ideas for Rooh right after returning from our Europe tour in June 2018. There were a lot of hurdles we had to overcome, both professional and personal, and that has reflected in the music. Ultimately, the end product has turned out better than we had imagined.
Sound wise, how different is Rooh from your earlier work?
Robert: There is a distinguishable sonic progression with each album, and Rooh will definitely highlight that. Everything from the approach to songwriting, how we choose layers and sounds, the structuring, the decision to have more vocals in this album, everything has been very different from all our previous work. I feel that even though each album has different colours, moods and atmospheres to offer, you will still be able to trace the Aswekeepsearching vibe right from the upcoming album all the way back to the first EP.
What were the inspirations?
Shubham: Our genre of music is primarily post-rock but we all have had our influences from electronica, drum n bass, metal, hip-hop, rock, neoclassical, among many others. So we’ve always tried to incorporate elements from all of these different kinds of music that we grew up listening to. This is also what makes us unique and different from otherpost-rock acts.
What are some of the songs in the album?
Shubham: We have eight tracks in Rooh. Each song has a story to tell. We don’t like talking about the stories in detail too often and we’d rather leave it to our listeners to interpret, in their own peculiar way.
Tell us about the apparel line. How did you come up with that idea?
Sambit: Our apparel line is inspired by Aswekeepsearching’s second album called Zia. We have focused on keeping it unique, minimal and a reflection of the monotones experienced through our music. Zia is all about being modern and edgy, made by homegrown tailors, designed and conceptualised by Tanaya Sharma and the band.
With a focus on creating exclusive pieces for their fans, slow fashion is the undercurrent of Zia. We take merchandise very seriously and as a band, we have always spent a lot of time and thought behind our artwork and prints.
With Zia, the whole idea was to wear our own apparel on stage, something that we are comfortable and confident about. We thought it’d be really cool to share this with our fans as well. For now, we are keeping things limited as this is our first time producing apparel and we want to be sure of the quality and finish. We will have the next designline out this year and all our updates will be on the Instagram handle @iamziadotin.