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In the cover art of sudan?, the eponymous debut album by Mumbai-based producer and multi-instrumentalist, the artist sits in the middle of a forest, surrounded by synths, pedals, and recording gear, as if the wilderness was his studio. It's a striking image, but more than that, it feels like a metaphor.
Making music is a technical practice with the knobs and cables, the mixing and mastering. But at its core its also something alchemic, intangible, mysterious; a place where enginnering meets instinct. At some point you move beyond the sound and structure to your inner world, to draw something real.
In Scenic Serenades, a special collaboration between NEXA, Lollapalooza, and sudan, that metaphor comes alive once again. Filmed in the forests of Shillong, the live rendition of his track, 'honest' becomes an act of returning — of finding that same space of reflection not just within, but out in the open, under the clouds amidst rustling trees and birdsong.
The live performance is prologued by a conversation among artists driving up to the location. As the car winds up through pine-lined roads, sudan reflects on his craft: “I feel like I write in a way which is introspective. I don’t really talk about stories or situations, I like to talk about ideas." It’s clear that for him, music is more than expression — it’s a sort of excavation. Sometimes it's a melody that leads him to the words and other times it comes after he already has something to say. Either way, it’s a process of uncovering, not creating.
sudan, the moniker of Pritpal Sudan is a Mumbai-based producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. His sound pulls from electronica, alt-rock, ambient, lo-fi, and pop, but refuses to be caged by any one of them. In Scenic Serenades, he performs his track Honest alongside Nathan Thampy on the keyboard and vocoder, Timothy Thampy on bass, and Noah Cerejo on drums.
In the track the artist wrestles with vulnerability. The lyrics talk about how being true to your feelings is something that takes practice; it's something we grow into. And acknowledge that love, care, or even the memory of someone can make truth-telling feel worthwhile. They hold space for contradiction: how we resist vulnerability and still long for it.
The setting of the performance mirrors what the song is trying to do. Being honest isn’t easy. It takes, stillness, openness and leaving to noise behind. And, out there in the hills of Shillong, it feels like sudan found all three.
Follow sudan here and watch the performance at the top of the page.
