Easy Wanderlings Talk New EP ‘My Place To You’
The Pune soul/easy listening group take a sprawling approach on two new songs, supplemented by animated music videos
Easy Wanderlings have released two new tracks as 'My Place To You' EP. Photo: Nikita Borges
If you think EPs are getting shorter for any particular reason, Easy Wanderlings will tell you their latest EP My Place to You was conceptually bound to just two tracks. The follow up to their 2017 record As Written in the Stars, the songs “Beneath the Fireworks” and “Madeline” bring together cinematic elements as well as more sonic diversity for a story about people who love and live selflessly.
Vocalist, songwriter and guitarist Sanyanth Naroth says, “Both songs are in different scales and it was important that the songs moved from one to another seamlessly, like one big journey. So we composed a huge intro section for ‘Madeline’ to help with this transition from ‘Beneath the Fireworks.’”
While “Beneath the Fireworks” features more guitars, it transitions into Pratika Gopinath’s distinctly introspective vocals on “Madeline,” over slow string arrangements. These come courtesy of composer, keyboardist and arranger Keerthy Narayan (who previously assisted composer Ricky Kej on the Grammy winning album Winds of Samsara), who came by to Pune to add his parts. Naroth says of Narayan, “He seemed to like the style of our music and had written to me saying that if we ever needed his help, just ask. For ‘Madeline,’ we went for a Sixties retro classic soul tone and we really needed some help with the string arrangement and orchestration. I couldn’t think of anyone else than Keerthy since this very thing was his specialty.”
Watch the video for “Beneath the Fireworks” below.
The two tracks were also released with music videos – made by visual artists Sailesh Gopalan (author of the hugely popular comic Brown Paperbag) and Preetham Gunalan – which tell a moving story about a woman going through different phases of life. Naroth says the band initially wanted it to be a 10-minute film. “Then we realized that it was being overly ambitious to think people will give out 10 minutes of their life to a music, so we decided to make it into two separate music videos.”
In a joint statement by Gopalan and Gunalan, the creators say, “My Place to You is two stories woven by love, sacrifice and acceptance. We aimed to build a story around characters whose lives are a reflection of the world we live in and the choices we have to make. We hope you enjoy the journey through the magical worlds we created!”
Stream the EP on Apple Music and Spotify. Watch the video for “Madeline” below.
