Exclusive Premiere: Hear Fox In The Garden’s Wavy New Song ‘Goa’

It is entirely possible to write a song called “Goa” without stepping into any of its beaches, shacks or resorts. Just ask guitarist and vocalist Soutrik Chakraborty aka Zico from indie band Fox in the Garden, who wrote the song for his girlfriend, who was trying to convince him to celebrate their anniversary with a holiday.

“A year later, we eventually made it and it was so much more than I had imagined. I got the idea for the video while sitting on Palolem beach,” he says. The surf rock-inspired is vibrant to match grainy, somewhat lo-fi visuals of Goa (put together by Ayan Parui and Rwikjit Roy) and melts into a slower dream pop space in the second half. Zico says with help from former bassist Sid Vetekar, the song was finished within three days in the jam room.

The song is taken from Fox in the Garden’s upcoming debut album Sunny Boy, which releases on March 29th. While the band started out as a bedroom project, Zico moved from Kolkata to Mumbai in 2017 and began creating material. The band then expanded to included the likes of drummer Avinash Chordia (from erstwhile rock band The Supersonics), bassist Shalom Benjamin (from The Lightyears Explode), guitarist Utkarsh Jaiswal (part of post-hardcore band Pacifist and post-punk band Honey’s Dead) and keyboardist Ishan Lal.

While Chordia is based in Australia now, Zico recalls vividly that the first gig he’d ever attended was to see The Supersonics at Someplace Else. “I remember they finished at 4 am and absolutely killed it that night,” the frontman says. Gathering Lal from Kolkata and Jaiswal from his workplace, Zico asked Benjamin to join after connecting with him at The Lightyears Explode gigs in Kolkata over the years. Since 2018, the band has performed occasionally, including a recording for podcast Maed in India. Zico adds, “We also thought taking our time and not rushing might be good for the album, on the whole. It’s been hectic at times, but we stayed focused on making things sound consistent.”

Sunny Boy – dedicated to Zico’s and Chordia’s fathers who passed away last year – was co-produced by veteran engineer Miti Adhikari (who also mixed and mastered) and recorded by Mumbai-based producer-guitarist Apurv Agrawal in Mumbai. Zico adds, “There were some more songs in consideration, but they are slightly in a different space. And I feel like, eventually they all find a way to come back. Songs never get scratched off the plate completely.” There’s another album in the works and maybe a run of launch gigs as well. “Once the world is in a better place,” he adds.

Watch the video for “Goa” below. ‘Sunny Boy’ is out on March 29th. Pre-order here.