Sunflower Tape Machine Releases Acoustic-Leaning Ditty ‘Rosemary’

Chennai artist Aryaman Singh aka Sunflower Tape Machine recently released his first piece of new music since 2022’s “the end. // the beginning.” The musician’s latest offering is the acoustic indie folk song “Rosemary.” In this interview with Rolling Stone India, Singh talks to us about what he’s been up to this past year, the new track and future plans. Read below.

You mentioned you took a year-long hiatus, what were you up to during that time?

Deciding to take some time off to explore my art and work on a larger body of work was extremely difficult and took a toll on me as doing so would’ve made me lose the momentum I gained through ’Sophomore Sweetheart’ (2021) and ‘Internet Friends’ (2022). The last year has been a rollercoaster, to say the least; I scrapped my Initially planned big release because it was no longer true to who I was as an artist, I had countless episodes of writer’s block and, since I never went to university and music was all I did full time, the number of unproductive hours filled my mind with ‘what if this doesn’t work out’ thoughts. This forced me to join a university to study film, but I dropped out one month later. It took me a while, but I finally realized it was okay to take some time off because it was the music that mattered the most. Ever since, I’ve been working on a larger body of work.

When did your song “Rosemary” begin to take shape and what can you tell me about it?

The writing process for ‘Rosemary’ was one of the most organic of anything I’ve written. It started with me stumbling across the chords, one night, when I was just laying in bed with my guitar. I was absolutely in love with the chords but I was forcing it down the alt-rock/indie-pop route that I usually go with. It wasn’t until a few days later did I realize, slowing it down and playing it on the acoustic guitar, made it extremely intimate and bittersweet. That’s when the track truly started taking shape. Immediately all that I could think of, were the last few lines of the song, ‘And I wish I could see her, and I wish I could feel her, and I wish I could hold her,” and every other word in the song just came to me, because it is about being in such a familiar position that almost everyone has been in. One of the biggest aspects of intimacy is familiarity and that is exactly what I’ve tried to capture with the sonics of ‘Rosemary.’ I’ve tried to make it the most intimate experience possible for the listener, rather than it being just another song. It merges traditional folk elements with my inclination for experimenting with vocals and how they are perceived.

What can you tell me about the larger body of work you are putting together?

Currently, the EP/album is taking more shape than ever. I’ve been working on finishing it, almost every day for the last few months and aim to release it by late 2023 or early 2024.

Stream “Rosemary” on Spotify below: