MUMBAI:  Joshish, a band of four members, just released its debut album Ird – Grd with eight song and eight art works. The soul stirring songs are  in Hindi – Urdu – lyrical poetry genre bending music with thought provoking illustrations on the lyrics. We at Radioandmusic got some insights into the making of the album through an  interaction with one of vocalists Sameer Rahat. Excerpts: 

What does Joshish signifies and who all are part of this band?

Joshish is a reflection of the depths of cultural fusion and harmony in India. All band members hail from different parts of the country with their own musical preferences; eventually coming together to create what is the locus of the various influences we all have. Musically it's a blend of post-progressive music with a subtle ethnic touch, which is intricately woven into Urdu lyrics reflecting the nuances of a person's life. It's an extremely important part of the lives of all the people who are involved with the band. The band is: Aryaman Chatterjee on drums/percussion/vocals; Sanju Aguiar on lead guitar/ vocals; Shardul Donde guitar/vocals and Sameer Rahat bass guitar/ lead vocals/ keyboards.

Who were the people behind the making of this album?

Most of the song writing was already laid down by Sameer which later gradually translated into full-fledged songs collectively by the band. We decided to record the album at the gorgeous Cotton Press Studios, which is a picturesque boutique studio situated in South Bombay. The whole ambiance and vibe of the recording process were captured on video by Baqsa Productions from Delhi headed by Siddhant Malhotra and Ankit Arya. We plan to release a film later this year with all the BTS and the recording process. The impeccable Warren Mendosa helped us with the guitar tones and some part of the tracking as well. His presence and production expertise added to our recording experience. JJ, Tanmay, and Alok from CPS headed the engineering part for us. They are amazing people to work with, really chilled out. We were backed by Sameer's mother, Anjum Rehbar, Vivek Bhadoria and Rahul Dhamne as executive producers of the album.

Who is person behind the artwork?

The person behind the intimate and intricate artwork is the very talented Kokila Bhattacharya. She hails from Bhopal and is an ex-NIDian. She has literally worked on the artwork for almost three years. There are eight artworks for eight different songs and all of them are hand painted. All the artwork was based on the lyrics and idea behind each song. We wanted to make sure that if anybody gets the physical copy, it should be worth it and it should definitely serve as a souvenir for a lifetime in this age of digital music distribution. If you want to experience Ird-gird in its entirety, one must get the physical copy. 

Is this album the first album of the band?

Yes, this is the debut album of the band in the last 10 years of its existence. Although we had released a few singles spanning across the last few years. The first half of the second album is already written and we're working on an early next year release.

How did you come up with Ird Grd ? What is the story behind it?

Ird-gird literally translates to things around us and the album actually talks about joys and sorrow that we experience around us. The lyrics of the songs are written about most of the things that we go through in this journey called life and it sometimes transcends it musically and lyrically. Ird-gird also sounds so unique phonetically, which was also something that appealed to all of us.

How did the featuring collaboration work?

 It was a wonderful experience to have such a star studded line-up on our debut album. We are lucky and so humbled that so many talented artists willingly agreed to collaborate and feature on an indie album, that too our debut one. We had the privilege to record a song with the Sarangi maestro Ustad Dilshad Khan. He's such a humble soul. Tejas Vinchurkar on wind instruments, Sunil Dhumal on Shehnai and Meghdeep Bose on the organ and string productions namely.

You have worked with amazing musicians in this project. How was the experience?

It was a crucial learning curve in all the band member's lives and a memorable one. We learnt so much from all the artists that we collaborated with, even from the artwork. We went beyond just jamming amongst four of us, we already have a certain chemistry going on but this was obviously challenging on a human level to deal with someone completely new and gelling with them to create music. It was beautiful. 

What are your future projects?

Like we mentioned before, we have already started working on the second album and we are targeting an early next year release, which means we'll be taking it to the studios in a few months.This will be a very different and a more modern sound in terms of song writing and arrangements but lyrically it will still be peculiar and more poetic. We're also looking forward to some features of our music in Bollywood and some international collaborations are in the pipeline for sure. Hopefully a lot of touring, Yes.