Guwahati’s 19-yr-old Nitish Bharadwaj is someone to watch out for!
By Kaushik Jai Baruah | April 14, 2019
His songs have a potent, almost new-age elegance. A lot of cinematic emotions unfurl gracefully on Nitish Bharadwaj's latest single 'Tribulation'.
It is somewhat confusing why nineteen-year-old producer and composer Nitish Bharadwaj from Guwahati is not making polite, tongue in cheek pop tunes because the young guitar enthusiast sure does know how to write a remember-able hook. Subtle yet beguiling, his tunes have an aesthetic that don't have to work very hard to impress. "I have a host of singles ready but I only intend to put them out as demos for now. I'm starting out my stint as a producer and on stage live engineer at the same time. It has been a busy year so far. Lets hope I can garner enough attention to take my music to a live audience very soon." Nitish told the The Northeast Today- Y!
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On his older releases like 'Loss' and 'Perennial' Bharadwaj had taken his instrument down some unexpected byways leaving less of an impression. However, his latest release 'Tribulation' which is essentially a demo unfolds with an intimate, conversational hook working against a hard-hitting groove section whose roots are in the Post rock sounds of the early 2000s. "Its a lot of genres I think… all laced in with a lot of emotion. He's young and brimming with a lot of ideas. My only hope is he grows as an emotive songwriter and not a technical one. Majority of the new wave of Indian Indie artistes have forgotten the balance of aesthetic and dexterity that made music a larger than life experience for us. Let's hope Nitish finds that in his process of exploration." Comments Aditya Ghosh of The Indian Music Diaries.
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As the latest single steadily grows in authority in the listener's head, the hooks start to recur. Eventually, as the track plays out- all his guitar maneuvers translate into iridescent arrangements until the mix becomes almost overwhelming sinking the listener into an abyss of emotions. While many would assume that these paths have been taken on purpose, a few one on one sessions with him made it clear to me that its perhaps a certain immaturity and narcissism that drives this exercise. "I'm working on trying to keep this as my bedroom studio project and get hired guns to play with me live. I feel its imperative my ideas remain the core of the compositions." Says Bharadwaj.
If Bharadwaj persistently sets up camp for some years on more challenging terrain than the normally favored conventional songwriting techniques- it might be an easier jump to the audience that he so badly craves. It wouldn't be a stretch to claim that with a little direction, Bharadwaj's music would sound like a more poetic, mellifluous counterpoint to the new wave of experimental, progressive and post rock acts in the country. This is partly because of his ability to raise a very modern eyebrow from time to time. "I look at discovering a new sonic space everytime I'm writing something- I don't believe in trend-sumptuousness." He comments with an almost naïve sense of pride.
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The writer can be reached at kaushik@thenortheasttoday.com. He can be followed @kaushikjaibarua on all social media
