Dropbox Talent: Paraphoniks
29 May 2015
Wild City explores the freshest sounds from the subcontinent in Dropbox Talents. This section isn’t about the who’s who in the scene, it's about relatively unheard of producers and musicians who we think make good music and are worth your time. If you’d like us to listen to your sounds, send the relevant info to music@thewildcity.com or contact us privately on SoundCloud.
Paraphoniks is a Mumbai based three-person electronic outfit made up of Aman Nath, Shatrunjai Dewan and Sushant Joshi. They recently sent us their debut, 9-track album ‘Handwired’ – a pure analog listen that had our ears perk up on first listen.
All three members of Paraphoniks have a history in sound – Trinity alumnus Aman Nath and Shatrunjai Dewan, who studied audio engineering in Singapore, are both classically trained pianists. Sushant Joshi is a self-taught musician who also studied audio engineering in Mumbai. The trio’s inclination towards electronic music in the recent past is what led them to form Paraphoniks, and their influences include Modeselektor, Deadmau5, Apparat, Trentmoller, Radiohead, Jon Hopkins and Brian Eno.
“‘Handwired’ was never planned or even thought of. It just came together in the process of having fun and experimenting with modular synthesizers and using them in the musical realm. Each sound on this album, from the kick to the bassline has been physically wired together. We feel that that’s one of the factors which has brought all the life to our sound and music and hence the title. Our main intention with this album is to share and spread the beauty of pure analog sound that we have been blessed to experience ourselves.”
Paraphoniks is certainly blessed with a range of gear that a lot of producers would envy, as the image above should tell you. While that warmth comes through in ‘Handwired’s production, the fledgeling act is clearly currently playing with sound, still in search of a defining aesthetic and mood. Don’t get us wrong, there’s definitely potential. Truly exceptional music, however, boils down to composition, the feeling and mood behind the sound and how that translates to music. There’s no denying the importance of great gear and expertise in production, but they’ll never get you an idea.
Still, we’re very keen to see what the young trio has in store for the future. There’s talent and skill there and we’re keeping our eyes peeled. You can decide for yourselves and listen to the album in its entirely below. Follow Paraphoniks on Facebook for updates and SoundCloud for more music.
Words: Diya Gupta