Sabu Addresses Mental Health on Self-Titled Debut EP

For Mumbai singer-songwriter Andrew Sabu – who goes by his last name – music has always been around him growing up, mainly due to the fact of his musician dad. Ever since breaking into the country’s independent music scene a little over a year ago Sabu has gone on to co-found house gig property LVNG, become Managing Director at Bengaluru music collective/label RECK, manage artists such as singer-songwriter Taba Chake and is now on the verge of releasing his debut four-track self-titled EP on October 1st on all platforms.

Sabu says, “It [music] was always just an escape for me, never something I’d imagined doing full-time.” He adds, “I learned that being an independent musician — you have to be more than just an artist. You need to be your own artist manager and to be able to think like a curator. I’m still learning and starting out though. I’m going to take my time with it and really just enjoy the process.”

The musician’s EP started to take shape this past February and addresses mental health. Sabu who was diagnosed with depression earlier this year explains that it has since altered the course of his life. He says, “I wanted people to know that they are not alone in their journeys and that it’s okay to feel what they’re feeling and deal with it in their own ways.” Throughout the record, Sabu is at his most vulnerable while sonically the EP features a more melancholic acoustic sound.

Sabu opens with the grief-stricken “Sheets” which is about “the feeling of burning out, feeling I am of no value, wanting to get away from everything [and] always sleeping to escape.” The live staple and pleasant “Processed Cheese & Wine” is the singer-songwriter’s outpour “to seek validation and the inability to fully understand my feelings and emotions.” On the folksy penultimate track “Find Another Man” which features fellow singer-songwriter Ramya Pothuri the pair sing about “going through heartbreak.” The poignant record closer “Rest” is in relation to the musician telling himself “I will be fine.”

A majority of the EP was recorded at Sabu’s bedroom and also at Mumbai-based singer-songwriter Ronit Sarkar’s home studio and at New Delhi’s Kintsugi Studios. The EP was also self-produced by Sabu barring “Find Another Man” which was co-produced by Abhishek Sekhri and Suraj Ranjan from Kintsugi Studios.

The musician is currently working on an EP tour and tells us to expect something beyond conventional gigs at pubs or bars. Sabu has also already released lyric videos for the two singles “Sheets” and “Rest” and also has a music video in the pipeline. Ask the singer-songwriter what he’s got planned once the hype from the EP settles down and he says, “Managing artists and running our label RECK. I will be taking a short hiatus from making and performing music.”

Watch the lyric videos for “Rest” and “Sheets” below: