MUMBAI: Mumbai-based singer-songwriter Tejas, recognized as one of India’s favourite pop voices, serves up a different side of his artistic personality in his latest EP Museum.

Inspired by stories like The Lion King and Hamlet, and his own complex relationship with his father – who passed away in 2021 – Museum is an exploration into Tejas’ past to better understand his present, and is a deeply personal introspective look on loss and redemption.

“Museum has been an attempt at not just a reconciliation with my memory of my father, but also the exploration into my identity on a more literal level… Who I am as an Indian, as an immigrant, and to study my own history,” shares Tejas ahead of the EP’s release on April 3 on Misfits Inc.

The voice of Archie in Netflix’s The Archies and with highly rated albums like Outlast to his name, Tejas’ signature medley of rock, funk, R&B, soul and electronica has won him plenty of accolades and fans. Museum is a “significant departure” – in his words – from what he usually releases and might surprise his OG fans.

For the first time, Tejas embraces more of his Indian roots with notable textures and instruments and breaks new ground for Tejas’ signature English pop music. Produced by Tejas, Jehangir Jehangir, and Adil Kurwa, the EP samples a lot of instruments and old sounds, and features Indian classical instruments like the sarangi (‘Exspiravit in Machina’, ‘The Clock’) played by Vanraj Shastri, and even the much-forgotten bulbul tarang.

“But even a step further I tried to play with the concept of time, using a lot of loop elements and reversing entire sections to create new sounds that conceptually fit the theme,” explains Tejas, who when not composing music, is a popular voiceover actor and singer for jingles and audiobooks.

“I have always been inspired by museums – a sanctuary of knowledge and a ledger of human errors and cautionary tales. Museums are my comfort zones, and always serve as a reminder to be better and leave better behind. I wanted to invoke a spiritual sense of the past and how eager we are to correct it but end up repeating the same mistakes on an individual and societal sense,” he says of the idea behind Museum.  

The release of Museum will be accompanied by a new live set featuring Tejas on lead vocals and electric guitar, Adil Kurwa on bass, Jehangir Jehangir on drums, Aari Nanji on backing vocals duty, mandolin and acoustic guitar, Sharad Rao on guitars, and Maalika Barot on backing vocals.

The Mughal era-inspired artwork for Museum has been designed by Nisha Vasudevan.

Museum will be available on all streaming platforms April 3 onwards.