How Metalhead Anand Iyer Turned Psychill Producer as Opsyllate

Mumbai-based producer, guitarist and composer Anand Iyer might be fully immersed in the world of making music for films, ads and games, but when he started in 2007, he was a metal guitarist. “I learned from [guitarist-vocalist] Teemeer Chimulkar and even toured with [his thrash band] Sceptre,” Iyer says over a phone call.

Playing guitars in his own metal band as well, Iyer eventually took on sound engineering courses and got into sound design and working as a mixing engineer. “It was a steep learning curve all these years until around 2014. Learning how to make my own music took a long time,” the artist says about taking the time out to write any solo material.

Now, under the moniker Opsyllate, Iyer has launched his debut album Mystery of the Bluebon. It’s a psychill album informed by ambient music, psychedelic and Indian classical music, and a little bit of rock guitars. The shift from metal to making pop or jazz music for Iyer was a natural one, but so much about growing out of a “phase.” He says, “I had so much loud music in my life. Back in the day, apart from metal, the only other thing that appealed to me was psytrance.” Unlike metal, he says his brain could handle eight hours of psychill, which drew him to the genre. “It’s extremely intelligent and creative music,” he adds.

Mystery of the Bluebon endeavors to reflect this love for psychill, but never getting too self-indulgent, with most songs hovering around the four-minute mark, save for the opening songs “Ooniversal Truth” and “Hoppity.” The project ultimately serves as Iyer’s way of getting into ambient, psychedelic fusion, which he believes many artists in India are not pursuing in this blend. Songs like the title track and “Darase Bin Lage” show off Iyer’s prog and Indian classical sensibilities, while there are rollercoaster sojourns on songs like “Psynapse.”

Iyer plans to make a song every 15 to 30 days in order to keep the output for Opsyllate going, balancing it with his studio engineering, composing and production work. “I should have another album, one hour of music ready. The idea is to take it live as well. It’s a long journey ahead,” he adds.

Listen to ‘Mystery of the Bluebon’ below.