‘A very cohesive experience’: OAFF on crafting a journey through grief and joy in his latest album, ‘Between Flowers’

I paid a lot of attention to the flow of the album and the orders in which the songs were put so that I could have a journey that takes you from one emotion to another. I was trying to process a lot of things that happened in my life last year — from losing two grandparents back to back to getting married. And I was just trying to make sense of all of this through music. I just started making music to process it and I realised that this was what was coming out. So after everything was done, I looked at how I could make it into a very cohesive experience for the listener, balance out all these emotions and try to be as honest as I could about the experiences that I went through.

You know, when I was thinking about this title, I was thinking about how when someone passes away, you use flowers. And that was an image I had when my grandfather passed away. I remember that visual clearly in my mind. And when you’re married, you use flowers as well. So when I recently got married, there were a lot of flowers. I thought that basically, this album is the period between those two things. And that’s how the name Between Flowers made sense to me.

I’m so grateful that I got to do this with Anurag Barua. This is the first time that we’ve collaborated and he’s done such an incredible job expressing the music through visuals. From the way it looks to the colours and texture of the film, everything complements the music so deeply and beautifully. It feels like it’s all coming from the same source. The shoot was done when Anurag, Prasad (the manager and producer of this film) and I went to Udaipur. We just shot everything there ourselves without too many crew or sets. We did it in a very DIY fashion.

Some of the themes that tie up the whole album are love and loss. I see a thread of marriage and wedding themes in it as well. For example, the first song, Baalmaa talks about ‘haathon mein mehndi lagi’ (there’s henna on the arms) and the title track Between Flowers although not specifically about marriage, is still being used as music for reels on weddings or mehndi. There’s another track called Bageecha — a small track where I’ve used a voice note from my grandmother who’s no more. As far as working with classical musicians and folk musicians is concerned, it was a beautiful experience for me. I got to learn so much more about the different nuances of Indian classical music since I’m not trained in any kind of music. I’m self-taught. And I think all Indian classical musicians respect art and music so much. This is true for many musicians, but especially for Indian classical musicians, there is almost a spiritual element to it, which I deeply connect with.

That’s a tricky question because my playlist is so eclectic that if you look at it, you’ll wonder what is happening and what I’m listening to! But I think because I’ve worked so closely with these beautiful Indian classical musicians, I’ve been listening to a little more classical music myself. For example, I’m listening to Kaushiki Chakraborty, whom I admire. But I’m also listening to electronica and solo pianists. I’m also listening to pop music. So it’s a blend of everything.