Saptak Chatterjee Releases Funk-Pop New Song ‘Paheli’

Originally leaning towards all-out dance music, New Delhi fusion artist Saptak Chatterjee’s new song “Paheli” eventually became a funky pop tune, with the vocalist-composer citing British artist Tom Misch as an influence.

It’s the first single taken from Kolkata-origin Chatterjee’s upcoming album Aaina, which follows his 2018 debut album Material & Mind. The new record — tentatively slotted for release in October — concerns itself with what Chatterjee describes as “the world we create for ourselves, often a bubble within which we live our lives versus what the reality is.” We may conveniently try to shape our individual realities, but Chatterjee says the mirror pierces through “all those masks and lies.”

The easygoing, rhythmically speckless “Paheli” offers a dialog. “[One person] is troubled with the thoughts of someone dancing in the rain, someone who keeps visiting the former’s dreams. Even though they have never really met, it’s almost as though they’re always with each other, around each other, never actually seeing each other,” he says. In the larger narrative of the album, Chatterjee says it ties into how one’s dream “is the reflection of what you want or desire, but don’t have.”

Flowing through shimmering synth work, occasionally crunchy guitar leads and Chatterjee’s Indian classical-informed vocals, “Paheli” is the first of three singles off the 12-track Aaina, which will also include “alternate versions” of tracks alongside the song. Even if music festival season doesn’t kick off this October due to the pandemic, the artist is sure that the timing might be right to pique curators, programmers and organizers from the events world.

Chatterjee is fully of the opinion that musicians can certainly adapt to the current situation by putting out live videos, home recordings and “raw versions of songs.” He adds, “Irrespective of whether every singer, guitarist, drummer, etc. wants to also produce their own music or not, knowing how to do it, knowing the ins and outs of recording, arrangement, basics of mixing, is very crucial in today’s world. The more we learn, the more we are prepared to think on our feet, handle stressful situations such as this pandemic.”

Listen to “Paheli” below. Stream on Spotify, Apple Music and JioSaavn.