'You can take a person out of the city, but not the city out of a person' is an idea that is rooted in how deeply place intertwines with memory. The places we live in become markers of who we were, what we’ve survived, and what we’re still learning to live with.
In 'City of My Heart', Abhibyanjana traces these emotional geographies through four alternative, dream-pop tracks. Written and produced independently with support from the Serendipity Arts Foundation, the EP is both sonically and thematically introspective. The artist pulls from personal wells of grief, displacement, and resilience across Gangtok, Pune, and Mumbai; cities that have shaped and splintered her in equal measure.
The opening track, 'In Your City', is a study in alienation. Set against Bombay’s imposing sprawl, it captures the paradox of feeling utterly alone in a crowd. Her vocals, almost ghostlike, drift above minimalist textures, articulating a sense of being unmoored. 'Powerless', the second song, feels more internal; a quiet address to her mother, echoing helplessness through sparse production.
The title track, 'City of My Heart', turns the gaze inward. Anchored by a classical guitar, the song aches with the familiarity of something half-remembered. It’s gentle, but not soft, and marked by a clarity that emerges only when you’re sitting with what’s been lost. The closing track, 'Promise of the Light', doesn’t so much offer resolution as it does resilience. There's movement here — she’s crawling, walking, and running. The past is still in her bones, but the will to move forward with it all.
Hailing from Gangtok, Abhibyanjana’s sound floats between dream pop, alternative rock, and ambient electronic. What anchors it is not genre, but a larger truth in her themes. Her lyrics reflect intersections of gender, caste, and trauma, shaped by a singer-songwriter tradition but expansive in its scope. Influenced by artists like Mitski and Grouper, she writes primarily in English, now slowly opening space for Nepali within her lines.
However this EP is her last project as Abhibyanjana. She shared in an Instagram post, "I'm sharing intimate parts of myself and my experiences and am only scratching at the surface of something I feel pouring from inside me. Before I move on to the next chapter in music, I'm leaving this piece of myself here for you all to take part in."
Follow Abhibyanjana here and listen to the EP below:
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