Singer-Songwriter Frizzell D’Souza Presents a Neatly Wrapped Country Blues Offering ‘New’

Mangaluru/Bengaluru singer-songwriter Frizzell D’Souza’s earliest memory of music is listening to old retro hits in her father’s car as a toddler. As a child, she was enrolled in violin lessons and soon picked up the guitar, piano and even ukulele. Throughout her schooling, the musician sang in choir groups, but it wasn’t until 2017 when she moved from Mangaluru to Bengaluru to pursue an undergrad from RV College of Architecture that she began singing solo.

From posting covers to YouTube for the better part of three years, D’Souza only began writing her own music this past January and is now out with her debut country blues single “New.”

The musician says, “One quarantine evening, in March, a friend of mine asked if I was writing something new. The two words, ‘something new,’ sparked a narrative in my head, and lyrics and melodies began flowing! I would bunk my online classes whenever ideas would flow and, in a week, or two, ‘New’ was ready.”

The narrative of the track revolves around two people moving into the monotonous stage in their relationship. “It’s an indirect reminder that love of any kind requires time and effort to last,” says D’Souza. “New” opens with light acoustic guitar plucking, peculiar chord movements, a sensitive electric guitar solo as well as the singer-songwriter’s pleasant vocal melody that changes in dynamics throughout the song, creating a warm and fuzzy feeling.

According to D’Souza, the recording process for “New” was quite a task. She says, “I had come back to Mangalore during the lockdown and I just happened to bring my recording equipment with me.” The singer-songwriter tracked the song in her bedroom and it was mixed by Bantwal-based Akshay Baliga and mastered by Kerala-based Devaduttan Nair.

As the gigs have dried up, D’Souza is using social media as her marketing tool to get the word out on the song. The musician has also noticed the likes of singer-songwriter Raghav Meattle and guitarist Ehsaan Noorani taking artists on from across the country on their Instagram live during quarantine. She says, “Instagram lives have become safe spaces for many artists to perform and promote their music and I plan on doing the same.”

With two more years still to go for her to finish her architecture course, D’Souza plans to move her attention more towards her studies and make time for music whenever she can. “The shift from being someone that covered other artists to actually releasing my own music is a feeling of inexplicable bliss. Music will always be a passion and I know I’ll sing until my vocal cords give up on me,” she says.

Stream “New” on Spotify below and click here to listen to it on other platforms.