Rounak Maiti explores grey zone between inadequacy and sufficiency in his new album, ‘Waiting on the Comedown’
Growing up in the States but releasing his album in India Rounak Maiti is a musician whose multiculturalism serves as the chief ingredient to his music.
Ohio-born musician Rounak Maiti released his second album, ‘Waiting on the Comedown’, on Friday June 7. In the nine-track long album, Maiti traverses in the murky zone between retrospection and introspection. It is perhaps living in two nations at two different times that has added to his tendency of looking back and reviewing the present, all at the same time. What he says, in his own words, “I think my situation is unique in that I can call two places home, but in a sense, neither of them are really home as well.”
In a brief conversation with Apeksha News, Maiti elaborated upon the idea how living in two different nations that are culturally so diverse has helped shape his unique sound, “When I'm in the States, I can feel out of place or kind of disconnected, and in India, there are times I feel inadequate and question whether I'm "Indian enough." I don't really fit in in either place, so, for me, identity is a pretty abstract thing. I maintain my relationship with India mostly through films, books and music. Whether I'm watching a Satyajit Ray movie my parents recommend, or listening to new artists coming out of Delhi or Kolkata, it's the best way to stay in touch with the past and present while I'm in the States. And the inverse is true too - I do feel very American at the end of the day, so I don't think my connection to American music and culture will ever fade away either.”
Photo Credits: Alicia Afshar
Working at a non-profit in the film industry in LA, Maiti is involved in a job that requires him to write quite a lot which plays a significant role in composing his music. However, he makes time for freelance projects and music, and record with his band Small Forward. Being a Bengali, growing up in the States, Maiti considers his cultural heritage to play a huge role in his musical venture. “I do think it's opened my eyes to the world in a huge way. I think a longing for new horizons is a core component of the Bengali ethos for sure. A lot of the music I grew up with talked about displacement and one's relationship with their hometown or motherland. So that sentiment has definitely found its way into my work. Then there's the love of music, conversation ("adda") and food...so I owe my interests and priorities in life to my upbringing.”
Like every Bengali family his parents were always inclined to music from different culture, nation, and language. Being introduced to music at an early age, he was exposed to the works of Tagore, Bengali folk musicians, The Beatles, John Denver, Eagles, Joan Baez, and Neil Young. Like he said, “They were always in heavy rotation. I guess I didn't have much of a choice, but I ended up being drawn to all of it since we had a massive collection of CD's and tapes.” Coming to his own music, as mentioned before, Maiti treads upon the grey zone between personal thoughts and their implication in the songs he composes. “I think my music is simply a reflection of my thinking, mood and emotional state, so from the listener's perspective, I suppose I want to offer songs that allow introspection.”
He further added, “At the end of the day, I want people to find something in it that strikes a chord with them. My intentions are insignificant as far as the definition of my music is concerned. If it makes someone very happy, that's great. If it invokes sadness or melancholia, I think that's great too. I'm also directly inspired by artists I listen to… sometimes I'll hear something and think to myself "it'd be cool to make a song that's sort of like this one" and I'll go from there. Having the privilege of living away from home and being able to return means, I'm being exposed to new music and influences almost every day. It's a lot to take in, but with time and patience, I'm able to reinterpret all of it in my music.”
Coming to his album, ‘Waiting on the Comedown’, which is a kind of follow up to his debut album, ‘Bengali Cowboys’ (2017), Maiti has arranged his songs according to his preference for “peaks and troughs in an album.” He explained, “I wanted the songs to rise and fall with intensity, but also inject instances of heavy atmosphere and loudness at the same time. I think it was mostly about creating a balance, because for this album I have songs that are quite dense and loud, and some that are sparser, with lots of empty space.” Although not all nine tracks have official videos, some of the tracks do and they are quite unique in their approach.
Photo Credits: Alicia Afshar
Speaking about ‘Another Room, Another Wonder’ Maiti elaborates upon how the track’s tendency is to revolve around the idea of a room of one’s own. He explained, “I worked with Alejandro Hinestroza and Alicia Afshar, and we filmed locations around Los Angeles and overlaid shots of me working on music at my home. The idea was to create a juxtaposition of the outside, and inside worlds I inhabit and create a heady, atmospheric visual that reflects the layered nature of the song.” The video of ‘The Whole World is Watching’, follows an Indian wedding that is perhaps shot in the late ‘70s or early ‘80s. Maiti described the video as “spellbinding”. He explained, “Karanjit Singh, my close friend and filmmaker, and I stumbled upon archival footage of an unknown family's wedding in his archives. We tried to find out who’s it was for a while, but we couldn't. Nonetheless, we were completely mesmerized by the footage. The shots of the bride, whose outfit's shiny haze and hesitant facial expressions, along with the trippy kaleidoscopic effects the filmer had added onto the film, were all spellbinding. So he spliced the footage and put scenes together to make a lyric video.”
Keeping up with the abstract style representing a concrete idea of his album, Maiti mentioned the cover to his album represents a collective approach to his music. “I worked with my old high school friend Sophie Mak Schram, who also made the album art for Bengali Cowboy. I have always loved her style of constructing collages like patchwork; it has a very handmade feel to it, similar to my music. We worked together in finding an image and colour palette that made sense, and after finding an image, she deconstructed parts of it and did some incredible layering work. Ultimately, I don't like using concrete imagery when representing my music, because I don't like to make it about myself, or about one specific thing. So her approach has always been a great fit.”
It is also his tendency to get attached to everything and feel things too deeply which drove him to pen down the title, ‘Waiting on the Comedown’. He said, “I spend most of my time feeling hyper-connected, and as a result, feeling pretty anxious or too absorbed in my own thoughts. It can all reach a very intense point, but every time that happens, I know that it's a passing phase and that it goes away -- temporarily. The same goes for negative feelings, or uncertainty - I think most of us wait for a moment when those feeling subside and allow for some clarity. I think I spend a lot of time waiting on that comedown, and it's kind of a vicious cycle. That's what inspired the title.”
Check out his album here.
