Bulli Bainbridge Collaborates with Vocalist Shalmali Kholgade on New Single ‘Better Place’

After the release of his five-track debut EP, Just This Once in 2017, Mumbai-based producer Zain Calcuttawala aka Bulli Bainbridge produced music for other artists such as Raghav Meattle and Calico, launched a podcast called Marbles Lost & Found to address mental health, depression and anxiety, and also continued to run his production house Horse Garden Productions with Spud in the Box guitarist Siddharth Talwar.  

In early 2021, Calcuttawala began teaching himself the piano. He says, “As I practiced, chord ideas began to surface.” It was this routine that laid the foundations for his forthcoming eight-track debut album SEASONS. Last week, the producer released the album’s lead single in the shape of the cinematic “Better Place,” featuring Mumbai singer-songwriter Shalmali Kholgade.  

According to Calcuttawala, he was keen on creating a song that relied heavily on orchestration. Influenced by the likes of Amy Winehouse and Adele, the artist set out to write a piece that was powerful. He says, “I’d lost an old friend and bandmate, Akshay Deodhar, to suicide mid-last year. It came as a deep shock, and writing this was a catharsis that served as an open letter to him,” says Calcuttawala. He adds, “We’d lost touch over the years but that still doesn’t take away from the fact that we were close back in the early 2010s and we were in a band together.” The producer penned the track alongside writer, photographer and art director Juhi Sharma. He says, “The chords came first, and then the instrumentation and the lyrics followed along with the melody.” 

Calcuttawala recalls crossing paths with Kholgade in 2011 when he was working as an artist manager and booking gigs at the erstwhile Mumbai venue Blue Frog. “I distinctly remember how incredible she was at the Amy Winehouse Tribute gig she’d put together,” says the producer. After reaching out to the singer to see if she’d be interested in featuring on the song, Calcuttawala tells us that Kholgade instantly resonated with it. “I still remember a point in the studio when we were tracking vocals and she teared up when I was telling her where certain lyrics came from, and she brought all of that to the performance. She did a beautiful job on the song,” says Calcuttawala.  

Overall, “Better Place” is a hauntingly beautiful sonic journey. The track opens with an in-your-face orchestra intro before delicate piano parts and Kholgade’s eloquent and immersive vocals enter the picture. It then builds in tension with additional instrumentation, lush backing vocals and finger snaps while the strings and horns across the track add to the reveling drama of the song.   

Apart from Kholgade, the forthcoming SEASONS is set to feature a host of other artists who Calcuttawala has worked with in some capacity or the other through the years, such as rapper Bob Omulo aka Bobkat (from reggae/hip-hop group Bombay Bassment), singer Anusha Ramasubramoney aka Nushious (one half of singer-songwriter duo Second Sight), seasoned vocalist-producer Siddharth Basrur, multi-faceted artist Trichia Grace-Ann Rebello, vocalist-guitarist and producer Ankit Dayal (from alt-rockers Spud in the Box) and Nigerian producer Adey. “We [Calcuttawala and Adey] grew up together, I lived the first 10 years of my life in Lagos, and he and I were close growing up. We’d last been in a room together when we were maybe 11 years old, and now, both aged 33, worked on a song together.” 

Calcuttawala explains that each song on SEASONS – which will be out in January 2023 – revolves around the theme of his mental health struggles, especially through the pandemic, and includes fresh sounds that touch upon various emotions. “The album is pretty eclectic, so I think there’s something in there for everybody, whether you’re into ballads, hip-hop, rap, alternative, I think there’s something in there,” he says.  

Stream “Better Place” on Spotify below and on other platforms.