Exclusive Premiere: Shubh Saran Recruits Dhruv Visvanath for ‘Wild’

New-York based fusion artist Shubh Saran ends his cross-cultural project on a high note with singer-songwriter Dhruv Visvanath’s sparkling single “Wild.” The guitarist and his band deliver an elegant and subtly-transformative take on the acoustic single from Visvanath’s just-released sophomore album The Lost Cause.

The video concludes Saran’s ambitious five-week project which saw him collaborate with several of his favorite New Delhi-based Indian indie musicians; the lineup included fusion artists Shadow and Light, acoustic duo Chayan & Smiti, world music band Pakshee, and Hindustani classical vocalist Saptak Chatterjee. In each video Saran and his band create new, fusion-fueled versions of the artists’ original tracks and perform it with them in a bid to celebrate cultural diversity.

His collaboration with Visvanath however, is a slightly more personal one. “Dhruv and I went to high school together!” Saran reveals. “We never played together then, but I’ve been following his music since school. He would post videos on Facebook that I would watch repeatedly and now he’s playing all over the world!”

In the video, Visvanath starts the track with his mellow vocals and acoustic guitar””much like the original. Saran and his band trickle in their instruments layer by layer, adding complexity to the soundscape in smooth transitions. Instrumental sections are seamless and push “Wild” to new levels without taking away from its indie charm. A particularly breathless moment in the track is when several layers of percussion hit all at once towards the end.

“This project was also important for me because it helped bridge the gap between my New York musician life and my Delhi musician life,” Saran explains. “Musicians who I love working with from two cities working together was extremely special and I’m glad we were able to capture that in these videos.”

Watch Shubh Saran and Dhruv Visvanath’s “Wild” below: