Hear CandyFloss’ New Darkwave Track ‘Persephone’

When Mumbai-based artists Amartya Chakrabarti and Angad Bhatia first met, it was a T-shirt of all things that Bhatia had on (of English musician Steven Wilson) that sparked a conversation between the two. The pair would later share an interest in other artists too such as the Beatles, Tame Impala as well as psychedelic music. They then formed their own synthpop outfit CandyFloss and released their debut single “Alien Time Machine” in 2018 and followed that up with “Lime Coda” the following year, plus a two-track EP called Scoop Out the Sun in 2020.

Last month, CandyFloss released their latest single, the darkwave track “Persephone.” According to the artists, the new song is based on the Greek goddess of the underworld, however, the song isn’t necessarily about her. Chakrabarti says, “I sort of came up with this archetype for a character – a gifted young woman – who’s misjudged by the world.” He adds. “Society is constantly trying to put her down and curb her true potential. She finally lashes out and emerges triumphant. The narrator of the song is empathetic to her condition, constantly asking the listener to ‘hold her, don’t let go.'”

The track features the use of synths heavily as well as calming vocals. Dynamically, the song shifts from a meditative space to darker elements. Bhatia says, “Both of us wanted to make something along the darkwave/deep house sub-genre, but with our own essence in it. It’s the minimalism mixed with deep sounds in the genre that intrigues us.”

“Persephone” was recorded at Bhatia’s home studio and produced by CandyFloss themselves. Bhatia also mixed and mastered the track. “’Persephone’ is one of those songs that really came together despite scheduling issues Amartya and I faced. We wrote the skeleton of the song together in my bedroom while jamming to a looper but built it up from there while being in different cities,” says Bhatia.

CandyFloss tells us that they’ve been working on a new EP for a while now but with the release of “Persephone,” they’ve found a “darker and more mature” sound. “It opened a Pandora’s box of ideas that are on the darkwave side of things,” says Chakrabarti. Bhatia adds, “We’re definitely looking to push in this [darker] direction, just to see where it takes us.”

Stream “Persephone” on Spotify below and on other platforms.