Gowri’s New Songs Embrace Her Darker Side

The solo artist’s folk and jazz-inflected acoustic compositions have won her a fan base that is growing every time she’s on stage. That’s enough reason for the 26-year-old musician, who moved to Mumbai for the second time earlier this year, to want to release an album, tentatively titled Freak Emotion, that would capture the energy of her gigs.

Her new sound is different in that it is darker and the lyrics have a more cynical edge, drawing from the qualities of “being a social retard” as she puts it. Two new songs include “Freak Emotion,” a dark composition about “guilt for not having felt guilt” and “The Girl with the Flower Isn’t Me,” which deals with envy and insecurity. The whimsical and funny “Hindi for Dummies” up on her Soundcloud page is an exception. “If they (the listeners) like it, it just might be included in the album,” she says. The singer has written about 30 songs. “Maybe 20 of those are usable and out of those, 10 or 12 may make it to an album. But there’s a lot of work that remains to be done,” she says, “I still can’t say how soon I will be able to put out a new album, so until I know for sure, I’m keeping quiet on this.”

The last time Gowri stepped into a studio was in 2010 to record seven original compositions including “Cackle” and “Butterfingers” that were eventually also released on SoundCloud. There were, however, lessons learnt along the way, one of which is that with a sound as sparse as hers, there’s great danger of over-processing. “I still love the songs that I had recorded, of course, but they don’t sound much like me. If I did an album now, it would have to be what I sound like when I perform live,” she says.

Listen to “Hindi for Dummies”

  Hindi for Dummies (raw, rough, uncensored) by Gowri

Gowri will perform with the Delhi band The Jass B’stards on

June 27th at Out of the Box, Hauz Khas Village, Entry TBA
June 29th, Downstairs at Zo, Hauz Khas Village, Entry TBA
July 1st, The Lalit New Delhi, Connaught Place, Entry TBA

Story by Pooja Pillai