Swarathma To Release ‘Topiwalleh’ Remix EP

Photo: Sumukh Bharadwaj

Bengaluru folk rock band Swarathma are riding the EDM wave to release an EP of remixes of tracks from their sophomore album Topiwalleh. The six-piece band’s leaning towards electronica began last year, even as Topiwalleh started taking shape. Bassist Jishnu Dasgupta tells us how he got hooked onto electronica. “I first heard our manager Debayan raving about Dualist Inquiry. At the time, I wasn’t into electronica at all, but all of that changed slowly over the few months we spent playing festivals like NH7 Weekender and Storm Festival in 2011 where I strayed into the dance music areas.”

In October this year, Swarathma invited Bombay Bassment to remix the title track, “Topiwalleh” and released it online as a free download. Says Dasgupta, “It’s one of the fun things we’re doing. Not everything will click, but it’s a creative effort for them [the artists remixing Swarathma’s songs]. When we debuted Bombay Bassment’s mix of ”˜Topiwalleh,’ we never thought of its impact, but we gained more fans and we got great feedback.”

Earlier this year, Dasgupta caught up with Sahej Bakshi aka Dualist Inquiry when he dropped in at a soundcheck in Bengaluru. “Soon enough, I got a call from Sahej, raving about the only Kannada track on the album called “Naane Daari.” He said he had some great ideas for it and wanted to remix it,” says Dasgupta, adding, “We always want to push our own boundaries as a band, and go totally out of our comfort zone. It leaves us richer in terms of experience.”

A week ahead of the Bacardi NH7 Weekender in Pune in November, Bakshi was ready with a rough version of “Naane Daari.” “The electro-dubstep really floored us! When we played that track live on the Dualist Inquiry + Friends set, it felt awesome. Mind you, the band has never performed with a backing track ever before, so it was a huge risk. But then we’d never know if we hadn’t tried,” says Dasgupta.

While two of the remixes include “Naane Daari” by Dualist Inquiry and a bass-heavy twist on “Topiwalleh” by hip-hop/reggae outfit Bombay Bassment, the band has just sent out some more tracks to be remixed by various other artists. Swarathma plans to release the EP with three or four remixes online in the form of a free download in December.

Listen to Bombay Bassment’s mix of Swarathma’s “Topiwalleh” here