JESSOP&CO. Release ‘সূক্ষ্ম’ EP

JESSOP&CO. is a new Kolkata based duo made up of experimental producers Anupal Adhikary and Subhojyoti Sen. We’ve been keeping our ears open since their music first emerged on SoundCloud weeks ago, and we wrote about the pair under our ‘Dropbox Talents’ section not too long ago where we spoke about their brilliantly ominous sound in detail (read it here).

Anupal Adhikary and Subhojyoti Sen released their debut EP ‘সূক্ষ্ম’ (translation: ‘Subtle’) on 15 November. There’s an old, overused saying, which has definitely at some point been hurled at you if you’ve ever studied the arts. The words are credited to Chicago writer Finley Peter Dunne (and sometimes, wrongly to Bansky), but the philosophy behind is probably a lot more ancient – that "art is meant to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable". By that logic JESSOP&CO. music is meant for the comfortable – if you’re looking for reassurance this might not be the right place. ‘সূক্ষ্ম’ forces you to think about what you’re hearing and shake out any complacency.

There is a risk in making the kind of muffled, foreboding, lo-fi, industrial influenced drone that JESSOP&CO. makes - the danger that its lack of coherent melody and impenetrable obsidian undertones could ‘lose’ even the most patient listener. While the journey through ‘সূক্ষ্ম’ had us completely submerged from EP opener ‘যখন স্মৃতিলোপ ঘটে’ (When Amnesia Occurs) to its brooding conclusion in ‘সমস্ত কিছু যেন নির্বিকার’ (Everything Becomes Indifferent), we understand why many of our listeners might deem it inaccessible i.e. we’re warning you now that this isn’t pop.

The duo will be making their live debut this Saturday in Kolkata as part of the Border Movement Lounge, a recurring property initiated by the Goethe-Institut which features forward thinking electronic musicians from South Asia. JESSOP&CO. will be joined by minimal techno artist Breger and the exceptionally talented Lifafa (aka Suryakant Sawhney of PCRC). If you’re in the city this weekend, we suggest you drop by. Event details here and on the poster below.

JESSOP&CO.’s debut EP might be one of our favourite experimental albums of the year. Listen to it in its entirety below and buy the EP here on Bandcamp. Follow the duo on SoundCloud for more music.

Tracklist for ‘সূক্ষ্ম’ (Subtle) EP:

‘যখন স্মৃতিলোপ ঘটে’ (When Amnesia Occurs)
‘তখন তুমি প্রসুপ্ত’ (As You Are Sleeping)
(অব্যক্ত) (Undisclosed)
‘সমস্ত কিছু যেন নির্বিকার’ (Everything Becomes Indifferent)

Words: Diya Gupta