chrms' Sophomore EP 'PILOT' Is A Blend Of Retrofuturism & Hyperpop

Few recent long-forms from India enjoy such a perfect opening passage as 'PILOT', the sophomore EP by Mumbai's Veer Kowli aka chrms. Looping small fragments build like a cinematic crescendo, creating anticipation for the composition's main body and introducing the elements that will define the rest of the 5-track release. The short loops of electronics and sometimes vocals (as in 'SHARP') become a texture in themselves through the act of their quick stuttering repetition. Samples playing and reversing like stuck record players create a world of dysfunctional machines. Intentionally so, as the producer attributes the inspiration behind the compositions, while speaking with Rolling Stone India, to "flashes of a time that hadn’t come yet, set somewhere in the distant future. Mumbai City in, say, 2070, seemed like where [my] head was at."

Perhaps built with the experience of performing live in mind – which Kowli recently got to do with a performance around the EP at Lollapalooza 2024 – the build-up of the opening title is an easy source of exhilaration. A similar offering in effect is the closer '4U', a track built around sampling iconic American singer-songwriter Candi Staton's 1969 track 'For You'.

Released via London's Hypercolour Records more than 4 years since his last EP, 2019's 'Lover Boy', 'PILOT' sees the producer step beyond his formative influences of future bass into strains of IDM, breakbeat and hyperpop for good measure. The sonic mileage Kowli gets out of just creatively looping fragments into textures speaks to his efficacy as a producer. What puts a limit on it is the tendency to go for 80s-style retro synth tones that have become a cliché among producers using them as tools to speak of a futuristic world.

While Kowli's voice makes a debut on the record, being put in the spotlight for 4 out of the 5 tracks, it remains obscured by effects that neither morph it enough to make it join the rest of the ensemble of texture nor leave it clear enough to allow the songwriting to sustain its role as the main focus of interest. The only time they add to the musical effort is when they echo the refrain "I won't let you go" more clearly in 'SPLIT', like a repeating advert tagline bouncing off of pristine stainless metallic surfaces of Kowli's futuristic world.

Listen to 'PILOT' below and follow chrms for more information

Artwork by Kushagra Gupta