Hear Hyderabad Singer-Songwriter Sidharth Bendi’s Soul Seeking New EP ‘Lost’

Over the course of making his second EP Lost, Hyderabad singer-songwriter Sidharth Bendi realized the importance of detaching from his music and letting others have their inputs – whether it was his producer Akhil Kodamanchili, his friends or fellow musicians. Bendi says, “You’ll never like opinions as a singer-songwriter. I never liked it, but there’s no way to put out really great music than when there are other people giving you some sort of input.”

The new five-track Lost follows 2017’s One In a Million, which was much more outward looking and often cheerful. Bendi counts this as a natural progression but doesn’t hold back from admitting that he had an “immature approach to releasing music and getting known” with his last record. He adds, “Lost is exactly how I feel and how people feel on a regular basis. It’s more true to that.”

While there’s fingerstyle guitar on show on the cryptic opening instrumental “Phases,” Bendi sings inquisitively on the electro-acoustic “How Long?” He sets an introspective, vulnerable mood on the title track and takes his turn at being a little more playful on “Your Man.” Finally, he offers a vibrant, groovy jam on “Don’t Let It Go.” Bendi credits a lot of the music’s shape to Kodamanchili, who runs music production house The Sounds Within. “I met Akhil for the first time properly when he started working on One In a Million, on the first day. We grew as friends as I released the EP – and we got to know each other and that reflects on Lost. I trusted him on this EP and let his creative ideas flow into this as well. He evolved these songs into an innate sound.”

While Bendi came into the studio with his demos, Kodamanchili was given a free hand to shape them. That’s how songs like “Don’t Let It Go” changed. Bendi says, “It was meant to be very acoustic and very slow. Until the last day in the studio, I was asking Akhil, ‘Is this okay the way it is?’ It became a very energetic song but that’s not what I wrote it for. But Akhil saw the potential for it to be the song that people could really jam to, even if it’s a little sad lyrically.”

There’s more songs set for release now that Lost is out, some that are happier and one that will even include a rap verse from a Hyderabad hip-hop artist. He also has a tour in the works for October and November where Bendi will perform all his material. “I want to showcase that versatility. It’s a perfect beginning for me,” he says.

Stream ‘Lost’ EP below on SoundCloud. Hear it on more platforms here.