Singer-Songwriter Sarvar Kahlon Poetically Navigates Emotional Exhaustion in ‘Raaton Ko Shor’ Video
The Bengaluru-based artist worked with producer Hriday Goswami on her debut single
Bengaluru-based artist Sarvar Kahlon. Photo: Purna Venugopal
Finding solace in music, Bengaluru-based artist Sarvar Kahlon’s debut single and music video “Raaton Ko Shor” paints a somber portrait of melancholy that she journeys through on the five-minute composition.
Kahlon worked with producer Hriday Goswami as well as indie instrumentalists like guitarist Ritwik Bhattacharya, Prashant Gnanamuthu and vocalist Ruhee Ahamed on the song, which had its seed about three years ago. “I think it’s for anybody who’s ever experienced a depressive episode or has ever felt emotionally drained out,” she says.
Written during a period of uncertainty in her life, Kahlon uninhibitedly prolongs simple but relatable verses through five minutes of acoustic guitar and a few production elements. The wordiness of “Raaton Ko Shor” – or the lack thereof – is something Kahlon says reflected her headspace at the time of writing. “People told me that, ‘You could have said this more poetically,’ but what is poetic about depression?” she says. Expressing indecisiveness and exhaustion, the artist brought in filmmaker Amisha Bonia to direct a visual reflection of her moods for a music video.
In it, Kahlon oscillates between getting ready for a night out to calling off her plans, with metaphors of feeling tangled and a reminiscence of happier days.
Influenced by the Indi-pop artists of the late Nineties and early 2000s as well as singer-lyricists like Shantanu Moitra, Kahlon credits the sound of “Raaton Ko Shor” to her producer Goswami. “I think the only brief that I gave him is that I want it to be quite minimal in terms of instrumentation. We were thinking at one point to include a violin, but I just wanted to keep it as bare as possible,” she adds about the production and songwriting process.
Kahlon’s next song, however, takes on a wholly different mood and treatment. “It’s a pop/jazz love song. But it still has poetry and voice with live instrumentation,” she adds.
Watch the video for “Raaton Ko Shor” below. Stream the song on Spotify.
