Alboe Blends House and Indian Classical on ‘Sahi’

New Delhi producer Alboe aka Vedant Chandra muses about fame, success and the public spotlight that comes along the journey of wins and failures on his new album Enroute 24, with the first sonic glimpse arriving with the santoor and tabla-inflected song “Sahi.”

The nine-track album, which will release later this year, is inspired by a quote that Alboe heard by Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan. The actor had said, “I love being recognized, I love people liking me, I love the fact that people scream when I go out. I think I’ll miss that when it’s taken away.” This in turn set Alboe to frame his album – the follow-up to his 2023 EP Love Languages and his 2021 debut album The Painter – around a fictional story of “hyper fame,” according to a press release.

The release adds, “Each composition denotes the start, the struggles, fulfillment, insecurities, curiosity, and hard work that go into achieving the unthinkable.”

Alboe says in his statement, “The album was inspired by the journey of success. This was at a time when interviews of people like Elon Musk, Shah Rukh Khan, Warren Buffet. Joe Rogan and so on flooded my social media. My subconscious picked different stages of their success and made songs on each different stage.”

True to Alboe’s tinkering to bring Indian classical elements to electronic music, “Sahi” flows with a rhythm that bears some recall to tabla, and also brings in santoor going over “organic house kick and bass,” as the producer terms it.

The rest of Enroute 24 strengthens that palette, offering house music that’s blended with Indian classical vocals and sounds. “Enroute 24, as a musician has meant more of an unapologetic slip into what makes my sound,” he says.

Alboe will take the album live soon enough at Ziro Festival of Music in Arunachal Pradesh between Sept. 26 and 29, performing at the live electronica Takar stage.