Exclusive Premiere: Gihon’s Uplifting Debut Single ‘The Dance,’ with Sunneith Revankar and Christina Rotondo

For their first release as Gihon, guitarist Dhananjay Pepalla and drummer Shawn Jacob delved into the philosophical side of things and mental health in the post-modern world on “The Dance.” The guitarist says, “I finalized on having the song split up in two different sections, one addressing the chaos and the other providing hope for survival in the midst of the chaos.”

While Pepalla is based in South Carolina, he and Bengaluru-based Jacob were first part of Coimbatore metal band Abandoned Element. It was in April 2018 that they started work on material, with “The Dance” being readied by September 2019. When it came to finding collaborators, Pepalla says he was looking for “musicians with my city limits” to contribute to “The Dance” but that didn’t work out.

In the process, he’s now got Mumbai-based Sunneith Revankar (Undying Inc, The Silent Offensive) and Nottingham-based singer and YouTuber Christina Rotondo to elevate the track to a heavy new level. Despite the ease of connectivity that the Internet offers, Pepalla says he was surprised that he could get in touch with Revankar and Rotondo to add vocals. “I have always looked up to both of them as a young musician and it was an extremely humbling experience to work with them,” the guitarist says.

While Gihon remains a Indo-American collaboration between Pepalla and Jacob, at least two more singles are ready and a possible full EP. The guitarist adds, “I haven’t decided on a date to release the other two songs or the EP in its entirety but it should be sometime in August.”

Watch the lyric video for “The Dance” below.