MUMBAI: Aditya Kaushik is a Delhi-based singer-songwriter who proudly associates himself with a niche community of bedroom musicians. His work resonates a much simpler approach to making music - creating something by staying true to your roots and influences that invigorates your musical stimulus without worrying about what the general perceptions of good and proper music.

Aditya's work has always displayed this uninhibited style of writing and composing which can be traced back to his previous releases. He released "Mumal", an exquisite interweaving of western and Rajasthani folk influences and "Roselyn", a heart-warming piano ballad. What makes this song special is that it's complimented by an equally heart warming music video that was shot by his friend, Prateek.

The video is one of the most simple yet wholesome works of creativity. Set in the laps of a Himalayan Valley, in the last village of the country called Chitkul, surrounded by the Himalayan range, Aditya can be seen playing a piano on a broken school table.

Talking about his influences, Aditya lists the names of eminent artists like Leonard Cohen, Thom Yorke, Steven Wilson and Damien Rice among others who according to him have played an immense role in shaping his composition and music-writing skills.

Back in June 2019, Aditya headlined the first day of the music festival Musicathon held in Bir, Himachal Pradesh. It is a festival that emphasizes the quality of music performed over boisterous stage antics and crowd-pulling showmanship. Later that year in October, Aditya performed as the opening act for Ankur Tewari's "Mohabbat Zindabad" tour.

Aditya's composition traits are reminiscent of his willful neglect of pre-conceived notions about music composition. He believes that artists should free themselves of others' opinions and make something that they can enjoy themselves, no matter how unconventional or avant-garde it may be. As a listener, he always soaks up the inspiration from the songs that he comes across, no matter how uncommon their composition may be.

"2020: A Shitshow" is a 10-minute long track that has been composed entirely out of news clippings from around the world that made the headlines in the year 2020. This track showcases Aditya's penchant for stretching the limits of experimental music with the unorthodox nature of the song. The chronology of the news clippings has been carefully curated to keep the audience at the edge of their seats wanting to know what was coming next. Aditya says, "Although the track reminisces the mess that 2020 as a year has been, it also highlights the fact that there was no curse that turned 2020 into an unsettling year but the activities and follies of humans that culminated into a hellish quagmire."

This track exhibits the properties of a "Do-It-Yourself" project as Aditya had taken up the responsibility of sampling, arranging, mixing and mastering the track. The song's length can actually be seen as a testament to his belief that even in the age of TikTok and Instagram Reels which has effectively reduced the consumer's attention span, a composition can be seen not just as a song but an experience. This outre nature of the track leaves a lasting effect on the audience and essentially reiterates Aditya's predilection for the uncommon and unorthodox.