Bryden-Parth Go From Hit Commercial Band to Releasing Their Debut Album

After playing party-starting mash-ups and covers of film songs and international hits for nearly a decade, it’s understandable to hear music duo Bryden & Parth say that a lot is playing on their minds with the release of their debut indie album Chameleon World. Guitarist, singer-songwriter and co-composer Bryden Lewis says over a video call, “It’s playing a lot on our minds more than the audiences to be frank, because it’s such a big deal for us to return to indie music.”

The guitarist in erstwhile Bengaluru prog band Slain, Lewis met flautist Parth Chandiramani when they began touring with folk-fusion act The Raghu Dixit Project, soon breaking off to create Bryden-Parth. For Lewis, the idea of releasing original music – even if it’s been about eight years in the making – is “alien to us all over again.”

What they do have to their credit – and it comes through resoundingly clear on the 10-track Chameleon World – is their years on the road as performers and several hundred thousand views on YouTube for their popular renditions of mainstream hits. Lewis says, “Where we’re at right now, obviously, we’re starting from experience, rather than from scratch.”

With the release of their first single “Rain Chant” in June, they featured vocals from the Halakki-Vokkaliga tribe in Karnataka and the experience shone through. A slickly-produced music video showing members of the project interacting with elder folk and singing for rain ahead of the monsoon was a heartwarming introduction to the pop and rock-informed soulfulness at the center of Bryden & Parth’s music.

A sum of all their wide-ranging influences that are heard in their cover versions, Chameleon World traverses feel-good funk on the title track, a flittering, saxophone-infused Kannada song “Haadu,” the playful yet socially-conscious Malayalam song “Malabar Blues” and a well-meaning, adrenaline-pumping Hindi anthem “Yeh Awaaz.” Bryden & Parth call in pop artist and singer Benny Dayal on the Tamil song “Paththu Miligram,” which in turn calls out self-serving, business-minded godmen. As far as collaborations go, vocalist Shruti Dhasmana duets with Jimmy John Francis on the bittersweet Hindi love song “Paaniyo Sa,” while Cameroonian artist Roy SoulChild leads “When She Is Born,” a full-throated celebration of the girl child. Chandiramani says about the collaborations, “Honestly, we just gave the music what it deserved. Even between Bryden and I, it was like a single conversation saying, ‘I feel this piece of music deserves this, we should do this or we should do that.’ And we just went ahead with our gut feeling.”

The two instrumental tracks offer a range of the duo’s songwriting – whether it’s the big band Snarky Puppy-esque arrangements on “Ode to Life” or the guitar and flute jam “Maklata.” Bryden & Parth brought in their regular live members to contribute to the album, including vocalist Jimmy Francis John, keyboardist-producer Siddhart Kamath, bassist Osi Gomango, drummer Liben Tom and percussionist Anthony Kamal. The record was mixed by Vivek Thomas, with recording taking place at Bengaluru’s Stained Class Productions. While the process for recording the album was started about four years ago, even picking up on music written dating back to 2015. “It was just easier to bring it back into this lineup and put it together,” Lewis says.

The guitarist notes that Chameleon World was produced in a way that it’d be enjoyable to play live. Bryden & Parth are going to head out on an album promo tour, but say it would be difficult to stick to only performing songs off Chameleon World. Lewis says, “We’d ideally want [to play only the album on tour] but it’s important to take into account fans who know us for doing specific things like covers. We’re in a position where we can indulge and give them what they want and tell our story as well. It could be a hybrid set.” A full band production is expected to tour the country in the coming months for what would be public shows after Bryden & Parth have predominantly played private gigs for years.

Listen to ‘Chameleon World’ below. Stream on more platforms here.