The Carnatic progessive rock band AGAM talks about their new album, ‘Arrival of the Ethereal'

The Hindu

a day ago

'This is the most personal thing that we have made.' That is how AGAM, the band that makes Carnatic music rock, defines Arrival of the Ethereal, their third studio album. 'It encompasses our journey,' says Harish Sivaramakrishnan, lead vocalist of the Bengaluru-based band.
The band, formed in 2003, and active on the live show circuit since 2007, has taken almost eight years to bring out this album. Although work on it started after the release of their second studio album, A Dream To Remember (2017), the pandemic upset their plans. 'The plan was to release it in 2020. But when COVID-19 struck, there were no shows, zero income and total uncertainty. We came back from a situation where we had no self-belief. That is why we consider the album the most personal thing.'
T Praveen Kumar, the lead guitarist, adds, 'All of us went into a hole; there was creative shutdown since we were not able to meet each other and jam. It took another two years or so for us to get back our focus, energy and spirits.'
The album has eight songs. AR Rahman recently launched the first song, 'The Silence That Remains'. Three more will be released in the next few months. The rest will come out next year. 'While five tracks in the album are based on traditional Carnatic compositions, the others are originals,' Harish says.
The delay had also much to do with the fact that the album has been mounted on a bigger scale. Over 300 artistes, including international musicians, are part of this project. 'The Czech National Symphony Orchestra has played for us. Big brass band from Argentina, orchestral conductors from Italy, choir musicians from Hungary and the US, musicians from West Asia ... the album has it all.'
Among them is Grammy-winning audio engineer and producer from Argentina, Andres Mayo, who has done the mixing with Martin Muscatello. Mastering is done by renowned engineer, Sai Shravanam. Mohan Veena exponent and Grammy winner Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt has collaborated in one of the tracks.
'We travelled to work with the international artistes, while some of it was done online. In addition, we worked in multiple studios across India and abroad. We have also used a chenda ensemble in the album, which is not the usual chenda melam. Several new instruments have been incorporated. It is a first for AGAM's soundscape and musical dimension.'
Praveen adds, 'The album took time because we tried to push our boundaries; there was a conscious decision to make it sound different. And each artiste put his heart and soul into it.'
According to Swamy Seetharaman who is on the keyboard, the band had set the bar high for the album's soundscape. 'It was toil every single day. We put ourselves on the edge. Exploring several emotions through the songs has been a different experience. It has not been easy, especially, executing it with so many voices, instruments etc... the whole thing was on a different league for us.'
So, what was the emotion behind going big? 'First, our age,' Harish says. 'We are all on the wrong side of 40. It became a now-or-never situation. As Praveen says, five years ago would have been too early and five years later would have been too late. We don't know the outcome, but wished to take our ambition to the maximum. I believe we have achieved that to a great extent,' Harish says.
The music videos, produced by Wonderwall Media and shot by Sumesh Lal, have also been made on a grand scale. 'We have had a long-standing association with Sumesh. He has made it the way we wanted.'
The first track, 'The Silence That Remains', is based on Tyagaraja's composition, 'Mokshamu galada', which ruminates on the philosophy of attaining moksha (salvation) and the cycle of life and death. With an impeccable, grand arrangement that switches between the traditional and the modern, the composition is yet another proof of AGAM's solid experiment with soundscape.
'This composition is generally treated with soft orchestration and sung with focus on the softer aspect of the song. It has not had such an aggressive orchestral treatment. So it took time to arrive at that form,' Harish explains. Swamy adds, 'It is largely about the five elements, depicting the struggles of material life, which have been brought out through unique sounds. We have used 30-35 tracks for this alone! For instance, there are sounds of earth trembling, earth plate shifting, ocean waves, volcano erupting... Towards the end there is the soundscape of a funeral — the sound of pot cracking and water flowing. And then you hear the heartbeat, meaning, the cycle of life starts again.'
Harish says they always go through a long process to select the Carnatic compositions. 'We take a lot of songs but majority would not translate meaningfully. If there are eight or 10 songs, maybe two might align in a sensible direction. It is all about experimenting because this style does not have a template. There are several deterrents when we work. Ultimately, it has to fall in place organically.'
Reflecting on Rahman's observation that they are a band that 'believes in identity', Harish says, 'That is huge validation for us. When we talk about identity, we are clear about what we should not or will not do. When we were half way through the album, many well-wishers pointed out that the Instagram generation will consume only a 30 to 90 second reel whereas the average duration of our song is eight to nine minutes, which is equal to six Instagram reels! We prefer to do it like that and cannot compromise on the kind of music we want to create. That has become our identity,' he explains.
That is where the band takes pride in their huge fanbase. 'We are very fortunate that way. Recently we came across a fan in his 20s who had come to our first concert with his father when he was five. We do not have passive fans; any artist will love to play for such an evolved audience,' Harish says. Praveen adds, 'The audience's expectation is so high that we do not want to drop the ball.'
The second song from the album will be released by the end of this month, which, Harish says, is 'an interesting take on a composition every South Indian would know.' The remaining two will be released by August after which the band will set out on a world tour with the album.
The line-up: Harish Sivaramakrishnan (vocals), T Praveen Kumar (guitars), Swamy Seetharaman (keyboards and additional programming), Aditya Kasyap (bass), Sivakumar Nagarajan (percussion) and Yadhunandan Nagaraj (drums).
AGAM is performing songs from the album at two concerts in Bengaluru, held in partnership with The Akshaya Patra Foundation. At MLR Convention Centre, Whitefield on June 14 and Prestige Center for Performing Arts on June 15. Time: 7pm.