Paraphoniks is amongst a handful of independent artists to have broken through the increasing synthesizer craze in India.Having evolved into an increasingly genre-agnostic project, Shatrunjai Dewan and Sid Shirodkar have embraced various forms of electronic music through sonic experimentation and their shared love of modular synthesizers.
Their debut album, Handwired, written by Shatrunjai and original founding member Aman Nath is characterised by a sound that was raw but lush. After Aman’s exit, Shatrunjai brought in Sid and both of them together released their critically acclaimed 5-track EP, Yarns in 2016. It was stylistically different from Handwired, and as Red Bull Music put it: a ‘dreamy synth pop nugget that’s playful and imaginative’. The duo promoted Yarns with a string of audacious surround-sound shows that featured their music in an 8.1 Channel incarnation.
While most of the raw material for ‘Silhouettes’, their latest offering, was written over a few weeks spent in the Himalayan hills in 2017, the concept of the album evolved from the duo’s fascination with modern-day cults and quasi-religious movements. Silhouettes featured a non-linear narrative that retained the synth-heavy sound for which the duo is known for.
The album features collaborations with singer-songwriter Azamaan Hoyvoy and drummer Sahil Shah who are also part of the 4-piece live ensemble. ‘Vacillate’ that features the former and ‘Silhouettes’, the title track have been listed on Apple Music’s The A List and Charting Now playlists. ‘Rubicon’, the opening track on Silhouettes will be re-released in 2019 by French label, Nowadays Records.
Paraphoniks ended 2018 on a high with performances at the prestigious Magnetic Fields Festival and a co-headlining tour of India with Napoleon Gold from Luxembourg
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