Anubha Kaul and Aman Jagwani Release Ethereal Single ‘i don’t sleep enough’

Mumbai artists – vocalist Anubha Kaul and drummer/producer Aman Jagwani – are no strangers to working together. In fact, Kaul featured on Jagwani’s 2021 album This Place, and the pair also released a dreamy single called “Hope” earlier this year, along with Asian-European artist Fryderyk HD. Kaul says, “‘Hope’ was when Aman and I decided to officially start making music as a duo.” Since the release of the track, Jagwani and Kaul have been working on plenty of fresh material and are now out with their follow-up single, the wistful “i don’t sleep enough.”

Kaul recalls writing the track partially in retrospect, back in 2020. She says, “You know how sometimes you only understand the gravity of a situation once you’ve stepped out of it? I was still quite mentally saturated and needed to channel it somehow. This song was how that happened.” Although the artist wasn’t ready at the time to share something as personal as this with others, she held onto it for a year before playing it for Jagwani. “He brought so many incredible ideas to the plate, as he always does, that I wondered why I didn’t bring it to him sooner,” she says.  

The singer-songwriter explains that the sonic mood of the song reflects the lyrics she wrote, marking her compositional debut. The track includes delicate soundscapes, a resounding piano motif, elegant production elements, Kaul’s incredible vocal chops and more. She says, “I envisioned all these crazy sounds for the track and Aman took them and made them even crazier. And that was the best part – the way he enhanced the songwriting with some sort of sonic word-painting is ingenious.”

The artists recorded the song while shuttling between Goa and Mumbai. A bulk of the track was completed in the beachside state, while Jagwani finished off production and the mix at his home studio in Mumbai. The song was mastered by Mumbai-based sound engineer Ayan De. “The most satisfying part of the process was discovering our new sonic palette. Most of the synthesis and production you hear in the track is more or less organic. Aman made a lot of the sounds by processing, morphing and animating our voices,” says Kaul.

Currently, she and Jagwani are readying a live duo set and are adding the final touches on arrangements, setups and setlists. “Playing so much original music live as a duo is going to be a first for us. So, we want to make sure that everything is perfect,” says Kaul. With more music on the way, we ask Kaul how she feels about “i don’t sleep enough” marking her compositional debut. She says, “I knew that this one had to be my debut. I’ve put out music with other people before, but this year’s going to be dedicated to the songs I’ve been sitting on.” 

Stream “i don’t sleep enough” on Spotify below and on other platforms.