Raxit Tewari’s main band Sky Rabbit is something of an Indian indie legend. It started off as a metal band called Medusa that dropped six-track album way back in 2005, before transforming itself into the current electro-pop/indie avatar which won big at the JD Rock Awards this year.
Tewari’s solo side project Your Chin seems to have been born from the same ethos that caused Medusa’s alchemic transformation into Sky Rabbit. It may seem like effortless mood-music, but there is a solid groundwork of talent and aesthetic sense that supports it all.
Tewari describes his second EP, Scatter Nature, as soundtrack music for a solitary walk through a busy city, possibly his hometown of Mumbai. It’s pretty much a perfect summation: Scatter Nature made us think of strangers colliding and interacting like independent particles in this harried world.
“Run Along Now Little One” is the stand-out track on the EP. Tewari’s signature, peculiarly flat vocals describe arcane prophecies (“Laughing gas will burn us while we’re dodging tragedies”) over music that introspects, sighs and flows along with the pace of life. The accompanying video, directed by Misha Ghose and Naman Saraiya, is perhaps the perfect accompaniment. It syncs Raxit’s music with grungy tableaus of Mumbai life – a red telephone, a rusty lock, smoggy skylines – showcasing editor Sourya Sen’s skills as much as the directors’ or the artist’s.
This is not to say that the other three songs on Scatter Nature aren’t worth mentioning. “Fingerprints & Mugshots” is a deal less dreamy than but in a way more wholesome in sound. The phrasing of words and sentences on “Who Would Have Thought” is a character on its own. And the plaintive stretch of the titular words on “For Love”, layered over an electro-pop version of almost-dance music, is just pure magic. It’s also the closest to Sky Rabbit, in our opinion.
All in all, Scatter Nature is a great EP. It got us really excited about what we might hear from Your Chin in the future.
So excited, in fact, that we decided to hear from him now. To round off our review, here’s a short interview with none other than Raxit Tewari himself!
Photo credits: Anuj Prajapati
Top Five Records: Let’s start with something that we’re quite curious about. Why the chin, of all body parts?
Your Chin: It sucks when it walks out on you. Chewing is almost impossible. You’re left to ingesting with plastic pipes going straight into your esophagus. And that’s just one of the many things. It’s important to acknowledge and address it if you want to prevent all of this.
TFR: Artists often create solo projects to express ideas that might not fit in with other, non-solo acts. How does your musical process with Your Chin differ from how you go about making and publicizing music as a part of Sky Rabbit?
YC: Your Chin’s mostly about sitting in a room and writing/producing music with a computer. I have been tinkering with software for a while now and wanted to see if I could produce some worthwhile music like this.
TFR: Where does your music take inspiration from? Was there a particular artist or even a set of experiences that really guided you here?
YC: A lot of things really. All of them get sewn in. It keeps happening over time.
TFR: You’ve previously described your first EP as the sound of the city, presumably a seethingly busy one like Mumbai, moving along with you. What’s the right frame of mind for this one?
YC: This one’s more of a put-it-on-your-phones-and-go-for-a-walk-EP.
TFR: There’s a lot going on in your music – in terms of technique, texture and style. Tell us a little bit about your working process.
YC: I usually put down smaller ideas on impulse and then build on them at a later stage.
TFR: You recently opened for Gotye at the Oz Fest in Delhi. What was that experience like?
YC: Gotye has a terrific live act. Was an honour to open for someone who is so on top of his game.
TFR: Your style of music is not the most common type out there in India. What has the response been like, in gigs and festivals around the country?
YC: It’s been wonderful. Not underwhelming in anyway. It’s been very consistently progressive over the last few years.
TFR: We loved the music video for “Run Along Little One”, especially the beautiful, grungy montage of urban life. Tell us a little bit about the creative process that went into making this video.
YC: Thank you! Glad you loved it. We went out for a day and shot a whole lot of this place not far from home. Literally rediscovered it in so many ways. Found new nooks and corners. It was extremely impulsive and a lot of fun.
TFR: The last question we have for you is a pretty standard one. Who is the one artist, alive or dead, that you’d most like to work with?
YC: Brian Eno?
So there you have it. Listen to Scatter Nature below!
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