Nikhil D’Souza Keeps the Momentum Going with New EP ‘Waqt’

It was only this past May when Mumbai-based singer-songwriter Nikhil D’Souza released his two-track record People. The musician has wasted little time on sitting back and instead has plowed forward with a brand new four-track Hindi EP titled Waqt. D’Souza tells us that he has plenty of material stacked and ready to roll out. He says, “I also didn’t want to wait too long to release this EP because of the great momentum that we got going with People.”

The tracks on Waqt have all been written over the last year with D’Souza even finishing off the process during the lockdown. For the singer-songwriter, this record is an extremely personal interpretation of familiar phases in life. He says, “Each track is a reminder of how fleeting love and even relationships can be.” D’Souza adds, “It represents phases in life where you may feel like everything’s going right and pure wholesomeness and also sometimes moments of intense longing, so it’s a complete roller coaster of emotions.”

The EP opens with the plaintive “Thode Se Kam” and moves onto the poignant “Teri Tarah.” We then hear the slightly more amped up “Gaye Zamaane” before the acoustic ditty and record closer “Hairaan.” The lyrics for all four songs were penned by D’Souza’s frequent collaborator Pinky Poonawala. The singer-songwriter says, “It’s always special working with friends and with Pinky especially, it’s a wonderful friendship that’s transformed into this beautiful working relationship.”

Apart from “Teri Tarah” which was recorded at Mumbai’s Rawr Studio, the musician tracked the rest of the EP at his home studio. Waqt has been produced by Karan Jhaveri, Aditya Ashok aka OX7GEN (drummer for prog rockers Skyharbor and pop-rock band The Colour Compound) and D’Souza. Vaibhavi D contributed backing vocals to “Teri Tarah” while the singer-songwriter’s longtime bandmates Zohran Miranda and Nathan Thomas recorded additional guitar parts on “Gaye Zamaane.” D’Souza says, “We’ve shared the same vibe for years now and it’s always fun working with them [Miranda and Thomas]. We produced this entirely during the lockdown, so our history and understanding really helped bridge the gap of not being able to physically meet and figure it out in person.” Sound engineer Chinmay Harshe mastered the project.

This past week, D’Souza performed a stunningly curated gig from Mumbai’s Island City Studios. He says, “This one was super special since it was such a different experience from the regular online live gigs we usually see.” Looking ahead, there’s no slowing doing for D’Souza as he plans to put out a music video and also shift his attention to an upcoming English EP. “I’m super kicked about it,” he says.

Stream ‘Waqt’ on Spotify below and listen to it here on other platforms.