Ankur Tewari's New Single Explores The Emotional Life Of Mumbai's After-Parties
Ankur Tewari’s single ‘1:15 AM (After Hours)’ is a late-night Mumbai story that follows friendships, nightlife, distraction, and the search for temporary relief from overthinking. Serving as the first chapter of his upcoming album, 'Mr. Faarigh', the song introduces a larger body of work centred on procrastination, perfectionism, unfinished thoughts, and the emotional pressures people carry while trying to navigate expectations, productivity, and self-doubt.
Ankur Tewari has spent more than 25 years helping shape India’s independent music movement, building a career that moves across songwriting, composing, performing, music supervision, and cultural curation. A Grammy voting member, award-winning lyricist, poet, singer-songwriter, and music supervisor, he has worked in film, streaming, live music, and independent releases while maintaining a strong presence in the country’s alternative music scene. His credits include 'Gully Boy', 'Made In Heaven', 'Gehraiyaan', 'Kho Gaye Hum Kahaan', 'The Archies', and 'A Suitable Boy', while his work as the creative and sonic architect of Coke Studio Bharat helped bring regional sounds, languages, and folk traditions to audiences across India and beyond. Alongside his studio and screen work, Tewari has performed internationally, appeared at festivals including SXSW and Lollapalooza India, and toured the United States with his band, The Ghalat Family. Now, the singer-songwriter returns with '1:15 AM (After Hours),' a new single that opens the door to 'Mr. Faarigh', an upcoming album that he describes as his most personal work so far. The record explores procrastination, perfectionism, unfinished thoughts, and the emotional weight people carry when they struggle to move forward.
The first single from the album unfolds over the course of a late night in Bandra. The song follows scenes that many city dwellers know well: getting dressed before heading out, music filling a room, friends gathering, and the hum of Mumbai waiting outside the window. As the night progresses, listeners are taken through Bandra’s streets, passing Hill Road, Linking Road, street food stalls, sea breezes, and rooftops alive with rhythm and conversations. The track captures the feeling of being carried by the energy of a crowd and the temporary closeness that emerges between friends and strangers sharing the same space on a night out.
Through city lights, music, revelry and companionship, '1:15 AM (After Hours)' traces the ways people avoid being with themselves a little bit. As the evening drifts toward an after-party, the atmosphere shifts into balcony conversations, house music, dim lights, and the comfort of being around people who require no explanation. The song captures a moment where worries briefly loosen their grip and the night offers a few hours of freedom.
The single also introduces listeners to the larger world of Mr. Faarigh, which comes out on August 20. The title draws from a word that can mean idle, free, unhurried, unfinished, or at leisure, and these ideas run throughout the album’s themes. Tewari uses the project to reflect on imperfection, unfinished journeys, and the complicated relationship people have with productivity and self-expectation. '1:15 AM (After Hours)' serves as the album’s intro, setting the tone with a story rooted in Mumbai’s nightlife, and the search for some emotional breathing room. It marks the beginning of a new phase in Tewari’s songwriting, one that turns inward while remaining closely connected to the city and people around him.
Follow Ankur here and listen to the track at the top of the page.
