Wild City Exclusive: Listen To Pakistani Artist Ramsha's 'Daastanemarg' EP

Wild City is thrilled to air an exclusive first listen of Pakistani ambient drone artist Ramsha Shakiil’s debut EP ‘Daastanemarg’.

Drone / ambient music’s unrelenting and sustained tonal undulations aren’t always easily accommodated by listeners. If you’re not paying enough attention, even the most approachable examples of the genre can get very repetitive very fast. You need to be willing to immerse yourself completely and let its cyclical rhythms speak freely. Then you’re hooked.

The intensely emotive release caught our attention on first listen. We have our fair share of minimal, downtempo electronic music (both decent and very avoidable) as well as a notably growing post rock community but this variety of headphones only, ambient drawling sound is largely absent despite its recognisable presence in Pakistan.

The EP was born out of the explorations of death and the fear of the unknown as Ramsha stories below:

"...Call it an interaction with death as a figure that is frightening but relieving, that has come to free you of the burden of making choices, of bidding farewell to the delusive concept of free will. As it lunges forward under a calm disguise, you wish to complain, confess, escape and surrender to it at the same time. The sadness is wearing you down, but you find a growing excitement in you of facing the unknown. The fear doesn't leave you, but the curiosity of knowing what lies beyond conquers your ability to reason. And you surrender. This is where acceptance is neither a choice, nor an enforcement. Because you knew it was bound to come. You knew it. And you did little to learn to appreciate and delve into what you did not know about the Universe."

Darkness is intrinsic to drone and the songs of ‘Daastanemarg’. Melancholy, of a contemplative kind, is an ever-looming presence right to its evocative, post rock influenced track titles (‘Eden Sank To Grief’, ‘This Mirage of Permanence’ and a name that could easily be confused for something by GS!BE – ‘Surrender; You Were Only Real In Your Dream’). This release has got a lot of emotion stitched into its fabric, flowing effortlessly from beginning to end.

We’ve enjoyed listening to ‘Daastanemarg’, and strongly recommend you plug in. Listen to the entire EP below and follow Ramsha on SoundCloud for more music.

Words: Diya Gupta
Art credit: Ramsha Shakiil