Gig Preview: Tejas Menon To Perform at First Editon of Vice:Verse
The Mumbai-based singer-songwriter will perform songs from his upcoming album ‘Small Victories’
Tejas Menon Photo: Divya Agrawal
Twenty-five-year-old Tejas Menon has been writing music since he was in high school, but began performing on stage less than three years ago. Introduced to the music of Mumbai-based singer-songwriters such as Nikhil D’souza and Gowri Jayakumar, Menon realized that there was a market for his brand of acoustic pop rock. Adds Menon, “I became aware of the indie scene and I realized that there’s an audience for this kind of music. I used to write only for myself but then it became a natural function of who I am.”
Since then, the artist has released a sporadic series of singles. Says Menon, “It started with me and my guitar, and it’s still me and my guitar. All of my songs are very personal, and a lot of them made sense at that point even though I may see things from a different perspective now.” Drawing inspiration from English and American singer-songwriters such as KT Tunstall and Sara Bareilles, Menon’s lyrics are candid confessions of personal experiences. The artist is now prepping for his debut album Small Victories, a nine-track collection of crowd favorites and unreleased material which he will begin recording next week. Adds Menon, “It’s something that I’ve been subconsciously working towards for a long time. The tracks will sound more filled in with bass, drums, keys and all the embellishments.” The album, which is due to release in November, will feature tracks such as “Ruby,” “Brave” and “Next Best Thing.”
For his performance at Vice: Verse, a new event series for spoken word poets, Menon will jam with the performers or as he puts it, will “add a score to somebody’s words.” Says the artist, “It’s a first for me, so I’m going to play it by ear. Spoken word has a definite rhythm to it.” Poets on the lineup include Alfred Lee, Rochelle D’Silva and Preeti Vangani who will perform in English and Nandram Anand, Deepak Ramola and Vineet Garg who will perform in Hindi and Urdu. Menon will also perform a 30-minute solo acoustic rock/blues set that will include tracks such as “You Want,” “Evidence” and “See You Tonight.”
(The photograph accompanying this piece, from Tejas Menon’s Facebook profile, was inadvertently used without crediting the photographer Divya Agrawal. Apologies to the photographer for the error.)
Tejas Menon will perform at Vice:Verse on July 28th, at The Hive, Mumbai.
Entry Rs 200.
Event details here.
