Hear Hashbass and Bharath Kumar Collaborate On New ‘1011’ EP
The DCF_Shapes members showcase silky synths, hip-hop and jazz on the new record
[From left] Bassist Hashbass and keyboardist Bharat Kumar. Photo: Courtesy of the artists
Although Bengaluru-based keyboardist Bharath Kumar and New Delhi bassist Harshit Misra aka Hashbass live in different cities, they’ve become accustomed to working together as part of electronica trio DCF_Shapes alongside Mumbai-based percussionist Lindsay D’mello. “It does take some amount of planning and discipline but it’s also about how badly you want to do it,” says Kumar.
The keyboardist and bassist have been toying with the idea of doing a two-day lockdown recording session for over a year now, and earlier this month managed to pull it off, which resulted in their six-track shimmering new collaborative electronica EP 1011. Kumar says, “Since we are from different cities and play with different artists, our schedules rarely match. When we did find a little window in June, we blocked our calendars and locked ourselves in my home studio in Bangalore for two days.” He adds, “Trusting in our ability of being able to feed off each other’s ideas; we hoped that we would be able to pull something original and exciting out of these days.”
The sonic imprint on the whole record leans towards classic synthesizers, arcade sounds and samples. According to Kumar, the lo-fi “Embrace It” and melancholic “Questions” reflect on both artists’ “philosophical leanings.” The funky “Growing Up” is an ode to Misra’s mother while the familiar sounds of an arcade reverberate in “Push Start,” capturing their “childhood evenings spent glued to cartridge games running on CRT TVs.” The pair also includes their hip-hop and jazz influences on the record with songs such as “Neon Dreams” and “Do Not Disturb.” Misra says, “We enjoy each other’s company and we just decided to make some music and it happened.”
On what they hope people take away from the record, Kumar explains, “The EP is meant to carry the listener through different spaces and moods in a somewhat impressionistic way.” The pair currently has no plans on taking the EP live anytime soon and would rather wait for things to fall in place organically. Although Kumar doesn’t rule out a follow-up to 1011, he says, “We do have plans of doing this again soon. When is something that will entirely depend on our schedules.”
Stream ‘1011’ below:
