The five-member collective starring Rajan (lead vocals, lyrics), Himonshu (keys, production), Stuart (bass), Vaibhav (guitar), and Sahil (drums) have kept the momentum of Alt Rock in India going. The Yellow Diary with two EPs to their credit, recently collaborated with ace Bollywood singer Shilpa Rao for a single – Roz Roz, a product of the lockdown, which is a beautiful symphony of different genres. Excerpts from the interview of The Yellow Diary.
The Yellow Diary and Shilpa Rao are coming together, which means great music. Tell us how and when did the idea of Roz Roz happen?
Roz Roz is actually a song we had already written in 2019. Right off the bat, we knew it had to be a collaboration with a female artiste. We showed the song to Sony and they fell in love with it instantly. In the meanwhile, we were introduced to Shilpa personally, and we saw a whole new side to her and really bonded well. It just felt natural to join hands with Roz Roz, and Shilpa graciously agreed. One thing led to another and here we are today!
Shilpa Rao’s style is more ghazal while The Yellow Diary is all about Alt-Rock. How was the experience of melding the two genres?
Shilpa has such a beautiful voice, and she has such incredible control over it as well, that she can seamlessly encapsulate her listener no matter what genre she is singing. What our ears were leaning towards was the contrast in Shilpa & Rajan’s vocals. And how they both form such a strong sonic identity. So different individually, but in the scheme of the song, so together.
How was it working with Shilpa?
Working with Shilpa was a really interesting experience, considering most of our discussions happened in 2020, while no one was physically meeting each other. In fact, her first draft of vocals were sent to us as a collection of voice notes from her phone! But right from understanding the song, to bringing a strong meaningful depth to it, along with plenty of jokes in between, she was an absolute pleasure to work with.
Tell us more about the single Roz Roz.
‘Roz Roz’ talks about the strength two people can find in communication, and the struggle that comes with the lack of it. This song bears a special meaning to each one of us because the entire process of creating it - right from singing the scratch to producing it to recording the final vocals - all of it happened during the lockdown. We were all in different parts of the country and really had to put effort into communicating with each other at all times. In the end, it all came together beautifully.
What else can we expect in 2021?
This year couldn't have started on a better note for us. With Roz Roz out and a bunch of live shows scheduled all over the country, we feel like life is slowly getting back to normal. We have a bunch of songs ready to release and we look forward to letting the world hear them. Also, we'll be playing a lot of unreleased songs at our live gigs.