It is during times of mass destruction and calamity that the human spirit comes to the forefront, when people rally together irrespective of their differences. Grief and loss are tough concepts to navigate and when that extends to a collective sense of loss, there is certain hopelessness and helplessness that pervades. Pain and suffering, however, also have the unique ability to make us more introspective and turn to art. It prods us the scratch at the surface and look deeper. Perhaps it makes us let go of some inhibitions and look at things from a fresh perspective.
Moved by the destruction and havoc caused by the Chennai floods of 2015, musician Varun Parandhaman decided to dedicate his EP to the victims, those who survived and the entire city that came together in the aftermath of the destruction caused. “But why now,” you might ask? Good art and music take time, especially. when it comes from a place of loss. 2020 was a bittersweet reminder of all human tragedies, a moment in time to reflect and take notice, and a place to create art to make it all make sense. The achingly beautiful and haunting EP ‘Your Love Is My Boat’ is one such reminder. Homegrown got in touch with Varun to understand his music and motivation behind the EP.
Please tell us a little about the song and the inspiration behind it.
2015 was one hell of a year. At 490 mm, rainfall on December 01 was the highest in a 100 years, making it the wettest November in a century for a city of 4.3 million people. Stricken and inspired by the stories of human loss, struggle and perseverance; we wrote these songs in the aftermath of the flood but never found the right way to put them out.
But 2020 has been a huge year of learning and unlearning for me, and it only made sense to put this story out as honestly as I could – “Your love is my boat (The Bedroom EP) is my debut Tamil-English piece, comprising of 4 short songs and a skit, spanning 8 minutes, composed, recorded, and mixed in my bedroom, isolated in the midst of this pandemic. There’s a voice note my sister sent me from the hospital dated Thursday, December 10, 2020, less than 20 days before album launch. She’s now a cancer survivor. Personally, it’s a very emotional and inspiring journey that brings me to tears and stops me from playing the piece to myself. I want to share it with the world because it feels like what we chanced to have stumbled upon capturing is a very candid view of life and people for how beautiful and inspiring and progressive all things life and light are by just our very natures.
How would you define your musical sensibility?
Passionately Indian. Our major inspirations are Indian bands/ artists Avial, Pradeep Kumar, TAAQ, Karsh, ARR. I have also been lucky to have a background in cinema (for which I’m grateful to my music director and mentor D. Imman Sir and Berklee graduate Maria Roshini Vincent both of whom have been a part of my life since 2009).
Consequently, I think we rely majorly on storytelling. So, even though the tunes were all nice and simple, with a lot of scope for nice melodic instrumental and vocal lines, we had to restrict the sonic palette to very pastel sounds. Since all our stories are about abrupt unexpected losses in a world of great-sounding had to be said in a very unglorified fiercely realistic vocabulary.
But I love harmonies and big production, synth bass, and Carnatic violin, defining the softest and the loudest parts for the listeners and also embracing the English language so that a wider audience could know our stories. All this I think even though restricted, still left us a rich room of soundscapes we could create within the confines of my bedroom.
Q. So, what was the creative process behind the EP?
During one of the early days when the flood hit when things had started to shut down, I got a call. My friend, she was stranded on her way home. Long story short, by the time I got there, while on call, her phone dropped in the water. For a little while, as I was getting there, I thought I might have lost her. I know I could not bear to lose her. That flood took so many lives.
The community came together with such fervour despite the pain. The songs were literally already in the air as the fishermen rowed their boats into the streets rescuing animals and people alike. It was, as they say, ‘automatic.’
Q. Any additional insights?
Love is so underrated. If people were to understand the very power of their choices, ironically realised best during times of crisis. They would realise how little time they have to act or you might lose someone. We tend to forget we’re always one step away from a completely different life. This EP, though short and modest is a tribute to that power of those choices of the whole city that came together in the crisis that was the Chennai floods, 2015.
The composition was written by Karthik Baskar, Arun Balaji, and Varun Parandhaman. The original music video for the single titled ‘Wait’ was directed by filmmaker Silvanus Daniel and had photography by Vijay Krishnan.
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