MUMBAI: Curtain Blue, the solo project of Abhishek Bhatia – vocalist of the Delhi-based alternative rock band, The Circus – is set to release his debut EP ‘Drones’ on April 13. ‘Drones’, the four-track EP sees Abhishek strike a bravely venture into a weird, wonderful and unchartered territory of modern electronica where no Indian producer has really succeeded.

Since the launch of the project in 2013, Curtain Blue’s experimental electronica has caught the attention of fans and contemporaries alike, and ‘Drones’ is a product of that continuous exploration.

“I had been working on these songs for the past one year and they were ideas or experiments that I wanted to try out. There wasn’t a conscious sound that I had in mind, these songs just happened. The vibe of the tracks is almost eerie and I have tried to complement that with the music which is slightly melancholic,” says Abhishek.

Abhishek has over the past couple of seasons performed at a number of festivals in India, including Bacardi NH7 Weekender and the flagship edition of the Magnetic Fields Festival in Rajasthan in 2013, where Berlin/ Los Angeles-based producer Robot Koch saw him perform for the first time. Their initial meeting led to a musical collaboration between the two on Koch’s acclaimed ‘TSUKI’ EP, released via Monkey Town Records earlier in 2015 whereCurtain Blue featured on two songs, ‘Let Me’ and ‘Erase’.

On ‘Drones’, one can hear what might have impressed someone like Koch, who was voted the best electronic producer in Germany recently. Equal parts headphones listening and dance-floor friendly, ‘Drones’ features someconfident music, skilfully produced with textural percussive elements and haunting vocals, making Curtain Blue a producer to watch out for this year.

The EP will be released on April 13.

With a penchant for performing live, Curtain Blue will launch his debut EP as a special collaborative set with 12-14 guest musicians, many of whom he has worked with before. “I am used to the live, rock-kind of environment and it will be fun to see people who have been long-term collaborators bring their music sensibilities to the table. It could lead to some interesting discoveries,” he says.

The evening will see members from as many 13 different bands jam with Abhishek and Anshul Lall, who is Abhishek’s bandmate from The Circus and also on drumming duties for all Curtain Blue live sets.

The bands scheduled to make an appearance on April 9 are The Circus, Fuzz Culture, Ioish, Frame/Frame, Half Step Down, Parikrama, Mosko, Kraken, L for Vendetta, The Underknowns, Tank Bund, Superfuzz, AVR and Sundog Project.

Line-up for the gig

Arsh Sharma (The Circus/Fuzz Culture)

Anshul Lall (The Circus/Ioish)

Nikhil Kaul (Frame/Frame)

Sahil Mendiratta (Frame/Frame)

Nikhil Malik (Half Step Down)

Srijan Mahajan (Fuzz Culture / Parikrama)

Moses Kaul (Mosko / Kraken / L for Vendetta)

Abhinav Chaudhary (The Circus/Ioish)

Meg Dsouza (The Underknowns)

Namrata Juneja

Subhadra Kamath (Tank Bund)

Nikhil Rufus Raj (Superfuzz)

Viraj Mohan (AVR)

Rahul Das (Sundog Project)

Curtain Blue will be on tour around India through April and May promoting his debut EP. He’ll also be travelling to London and Glasgow for his maiden tour of the UK as part of the Wild City Presents: Alternative India, a showcase on alternative dance music from India at Alchemy, a festival of UK and South Asian arts at London’s Southbank Centre.