The Yellow Diary are Working on a ‘Brand New Live Experience’ For Their ‘Mann’ EP Tour
“The thing about emotions is that you live them over and over at different times and in different ways,” vocalist-composer and lyricist Rajan Batra says
There’s a journey of emotions being in and out of love in The Yellow Diary’s new three-track EP Mann. In a manner that’s expected from the Mumbai-based pop/rock band, the opening title track is a breathy ode to blossoming love. The music video – starring actor Tarini Shah and actor-musician Moses Koul (from rock band Kraken) – even comes with a cutesy love story told through art, urban bustle and the joys of human connection.
Even though “Sada” is the arena-ready, proggy song that sings about the importance of staying rooted in a relationship, The Yellow Diary tap into darker emotions for catharsis on the questioning closing track “Kaun Mera.” Drummer Sahil Shah says about the song, “As artists we draw from personal experiences and emotions to create music. Tapping into darker emotions can be a powerful way to convey complex feelings and connect with our listeners. The whole music-making process for ‘Kaun Mera’ became a very personal and cathartic experience.”
Among the band members, vocalist, composer and lyricist Rajan Batra says they’ve all had their favorite song off the EP change from time to time. He adds, “The thing about emotions is that you live them over and over at different times and in different ways. So, we are pretty sure that at different moments, different songs would have been our favorites. That said, for every idea to become a song, it has to be a favorite amongst all, that’s how we believe in building our music. We all try and sync to the emotion and allow the emotion to lead the process.”
Mann EP also marks the first collection of songs featuring The Yellow Diary’s new guitarist Harshvardhan Gadhvi. Producer, keyboardist and vocalist Himonshu Parikh is all praise for Gadhvi, calling him a “brilliant musician” who has “become family overnight.” He adds, “His creative energy is very rich, very fluid and extremely interesting. To be honest, it was really easy to have him join our songwriting process. It didn’t feel like we had to make any special effort at all.”
The band is completed by bassist Stuart DaCosta, who says that the real success of their EP lies in how many people will sing it back to them at their live shows. To that end, The Yellow Diary have announced a launch tour through November and December. They’ll kick off in Chandigarh on November 3rd, followed by Hyderabad on November 4th and more shows at the end of that month, including stops in Delhi NCR (November 24th), Mumbai (November 25th) and Pune (November 26th), with a Bengaluru show on December 1st. Gadhvi adds, “We have a brand new live experience that we’ve been working on. Our audiences can expect few new songs along with the songs we all like.”
Listen to ‘Mann’ EP below.