Mohit Mukhi Drops Guitar-Led EP ‘Who’s Sizing Me Up’

Last December, Mumbai-based singer-songwriter Mohit Mukhi shared the title track to his just-released four-track EP Who’s Sizing Me Up. Since then, Mukhi has put out each song one at a time in a piecemeal fashion. He says of the practice, “I figured that there’s a lot on people’s plates now. I don’t know if this would be so high up on people’s priority right now when everyone’s kind of coping with so many things.” He adds, “And for obvious reasons to kind of stretch the EP.”

Who’s Sizing Me Up follows Mukhi’s previous records Running Shoes and a Thousand Dreams (2016) and Midnight Lullabies (2017) and is also the shortest of his three records so far, clocking in at just under 16 minutes. While the previous material was more laidback, the singer-songwriter tapped into a more guitar-based approach for the new EP. He says, “I call myself a guitar player. So, I’m like, ‘I want to play some guitar.’”

That guitar approach can be heard right through Who’s Sizing Me Up with pleasing melodic parts, crunchy tones as well as amped-up sections and solos. The record opens with the dynamic title track before we hear the upbeat “Alone Together.” The EP’s penultimate song is Mukhi’s stirring collaboration on “Idaho” with fellow singer-songwriter Banat Kaur Bagga (who goes by her first name) as the record closes with the pensive “The Suitcase.”

The EP covers themes of coming of age, monotony, newfound relationships and more. For the record, Mukhi shared production duties alongside Soutrik Chakraborty (from Mumbai/Kolkata indie rock band Fox In the Garden) and tracked the music at Mumbai-based Joshua Music Studio, Island City Studio and Plan A Studios. Also featured across the EP are musicians; bassist Bijit Bhattacharya (from Mumbai-based singer-songwriter Aditi Ramesh‘s band), drummer Avinash Chordia (previously part of Kolkata rockers The Supersonics), keyboardist Rahul Wadhwani and violinist Rajarshi Das. “It was a fantastic experience to do everything DIY,” says Mukhi.

Mukhi tells us that through the process of putting the EP together he’s grown as an artist. Without his usual team of creative people around him, he was able to get this ship sailing. He says, “I think that was a big confidence booster for me, at a time when I was really kind of questioning if this EP is going to get completed or not.” He adds, “I think it’s really helping kind of widen my horizon as well, in terms of a listener, in terms of what I believe I can do and what I want to kind of do next.”

With three digitally painted music videos already out, what Mukhi wants to do next is shoot a proper music video too as well as recording a new single. He says, “I think it has been very, very tough to kind of focus on a lot of things at this point because it has been kind of overwhelming in that sense,” says Mukhi. He adds, “I am really just taking this one step at a time currently and trying to give it my very best with whatever I do.”

Stream ‘Who’s Sizing Me Up’ on Spotify below and on other platforms.