Hear Experimental Duo Journey from 605’s Debut EP ‘Antarmukhi’

When musicians Lakshya Upadhyaya and Qassam Hussain met each other at university in Greater Noida in 2015, the pair immediately hit it off and began making music together as Journey from 605. “The ‘605’ is the hostel room number where it all started,” says Upadhyaya.

After Hussain returned to his hometown in Kashmir and Upadhyaya moved to Mumbai, the project was put on the back burner. However, in 2019 the duo got back together and began work on their just-released four-track EP titled Antarmukhi. Upadhyaya says, “Things were extremely shaky in between the project as well, a lot of challenges came on the way that delayed the production but we were always clear with what and how we wanted it.”

The folk-rock sounding record includes sublime harmonies from the musicians while the songs touch upon the normalization of mental health issues. The moody opening title track is about the insecurities of an introverted individual while the folksy “Mein Insaan” deals with an existential crisis faced by a sensitive person. On the melancholic “Dhoor,” the band sings about not being with a loved one whereas the easygoing record closer “Madno” is extracted from a poem by Kashmiri poet Ghulam Nabi Firaq. Upadhyaya says, “The song is all about all kinds of love we share as humans.”

Journey from 605 recorded the EP at Hussain’s apartment in New Delhi before sending it to Riversound Studio in Mumbai to be mixed by Ravi Khatri.

At the moment, the band doesn’t have any future plans. Hussain is currently back in Kashmir and Upadhyaya has moved to the U.K. While Antarmukhi was born out of five years’ worth of experiences together, Upadhyaya says, “[We’ll release new material] maybe in a few months or maybe a couple of years or decades, we don’t know. Just like how life is so unexpected, so is our work.”

Stream ‘Antarmukhi’ on Spotify below and on other platforms.