Exclusive Stream: Mindflew Get Romantic on ‘Dil Ki Raani’

Mindflew – (from left) Jayant Parashar, Aashish Mandhwani, Ritwik De and Hemant Chona. Photo: Chaitali Burman

Delhi-based composer, singer and producer Ritwik De sure loves old junk. Well, he might be offended about calling it junk, but he’s been toying with children’s Casio keyboards for his electronic ventures with bands, Tankbund and The Yellow Bucket, in the last two years.

Plus, for his psychedelic rock band Mindflew’s first new material since 2013’s The Happy Sad EP, he bought an [apparently] 55-year-old tape machine to record. He says of “Dil Ki Raani,” their latest track, “People try to make things sound lo-fi in post-production, but we just had all-out experimenting. We used very old equipment, battered amps.” The follow-up to trippy dance-y “Sapne ”“ The Dream” and “Philaawar Fantasy 500,” their latest single is just as pumped up, featuring De throwing in a Hindi hook. Of course, the song is about women, but we can’t get much more out of the frontman apart from that. He adds, “It’s about women and aggression. It’s one of the darkest songs on the album.”

Mindflew ”“ comprising De, bassist Hemant Chona, drummer Jayant Parashar and guitarist Aashish Mandhwani ”“ had been on a break since 2012 after their rhythm guitarist Tushar Yadav left the band to pursue studies in New Zealand, but regrouped earlier this year to start work on the dystopian-themed debut full-length that’s tentatively called O Beti. Talking about the album, which is slated to release in early 2016, he says, “It’s about consumerist theories and how to con the world. The album is pretty dark, but it’s arranged in a way that’s light and catchy.”

Listen to “Dil Ki Raani” here