How Alboe’s Genre-Hopping Multilingual EP ‘Love Languages’ Led to Reconnecting with Lost Friends
New Delhi-based producer Vedant Chandra goes from disco/house to Indian percussive elements to synths to Punjabi hip-hop on his six-track EP
New Delhi producer Alboe aka Vedant Chandra.
There’s a bit of mystique but also a celebration of wide-ranging sounds on New Delhi producer Alboe aka Vedant Chandra’s new EP Love Languages. The six-track EP incorporates vocals in English, Hindi, Punjabi and Bengali, plus Indian classical elements but it never strays too far from the dancefloor.
Among the most popular tracks from the EP has been “Malx” featuring vocalist Shrii, an interpretation of raga Malkauns which Alboe decided to play out on a synth sequence instead of the harmonium. “I decided to begin an album with unconventional approaches to Indian-born sounds,” the producer says in an interview.
From the disco-house of “Can’t Find Your Love” featuring singer Aneesha to the bouncy, nostalgic electronic Bengali song “Rokto” with singer Prajna, Love Languages impresses at every turn. The follow-up to his 2021 album The Painter, Alboe has been steadily finding a balance between distinctly Indian sounds and memorable, unshakeable electronic production. “Silhouettes” is a perfect example of it, with journeying orchestral production meeting atmospheric synth work. The producer flips it all with a Punjabi hip-hop song called “Flight,” featuring artist So Dee.
Alboe says the hip-hop production for “Flight” was composed long before So Dee was found (via Instagram). The producer adds, “I started the track with a lower BPM with a lot of more emphasis on beats and percussive chords. Initially, I tried to put in Hindi rap, but it wasn’t appealing nor was it fitting well. I took a break from the track, and came back to it after listening to a lot of Punjabi music during the wedding season. This prompted my search for Punjabi rappers and I was lucky enough to find So Dee in this process.”
Starting right from the release of “Malx” as a single with a music video in March, Alboe says Love Languages has received a lot of good feedback. That includes having “long lost friends” who reconnected with him after hearing his music “from some other source.” He says, “Only when they saw my picture did they find out it was me. Due to this I had some great conversations with them and felt overwhelmed by their praise.”
As it turns out, Love Languages is only the first part of releases for Alboe this year. In the coming months, there will be a second compilation comprising six songs out before the end of the year.
Listen to ‘Love Languages’ EP below. Stream on more platforms here.
