Delhi-based musicians Jay Rana and Skopos along with Apram Lamba have trialled with lo-fi and jazz music, and their experimental foray has led to the culmination of the EP ‘Magic & Pasta’.
New-Delhi based Paradigm Records headed by Apram Lamba dropped their English EP Magic & Pasta by Jay Rana and Skopos creating a trademark of musical originality. Consisting of four tracks, the EP is groovy, light and melodious. Delhi-based musicians Jay Rana and Skopos along with Apram Lamba have trialed with lo-fi and jazz music, and their experimental foray has led to the culmination of the EP Magic and Pasta. In an exclusive chat with The Sunday Guardian, Skopos, Rana, and Lamba talk about their EP and how the Coronavirus Pandemic has changed the modus operandi of the independent music industry. Excerpts:
Q. Can you talk about the journey of your EP Magic & Pasta?
A. Jay Rana (JR): Skopos and I got together in March 2020 and started working together immediately. After a few weeks into our collaboration, we got Akanksha with us. Later followed by Mayank and Vinod. We were excited to collaborate with these guys. The only challenge we faced during the pandemic was not being able to come together in person and have studio sessions. That did impact the timeline, but it was fun to experience a new road.
Skopos (SK): As an Artist, I feel collaborations are the best way to grow and learn from each other! Collaborating at this time were challenging but our desire to finish this project was greater than these hurdles and we made it possible by getting Akanksha on board for ‘Summer Evenings’, Mayank for ‘Taste Me’ & Vinod for ‘Crossfire’.
Apram Lamba(AL): Iand Skopos were doing an event at FIO Delhi in 2019, Jay being an old friend, I decided to call Jay and ask if he is free and asked him to join us at the event. That is when Jay and skopos met for the first time and started exchanging demos’ and EP was born.
Q. One of the tracks in the EP is very different ‘Crossfire’, it is orchestral. How did you finalize the arrangement of the track?
A. JR: I have always been a fan of cinematic music and love making them too. I shared the idea with Skopos if, we could try adding something cinematic to our songs and he was ready for it. It started with Wake Up and Summer Evening having cinematic endings but, with Crossfire, we had something different in mind. We wanted to make sure that Crossfire lives up to its name. Once we figured out how we want this track to sound like, it was a smooth sail.
SK: So Regarding Crossfire, Personally my roots are inspired by Classic Rock, Jazz Fusion music. I had a very non-commercial arrangement of the song and shared it with Jay, he loved it and added his cinematic influence on it. I felt we’re experimenting and had to do something different.
Q. Did the pandemic affect your production? If yes, how did you tackle it?
A. JR: It did. The studios had shut down, and everyone went back home. We would exchange ideas or demos over Zoom calls and emails, which was our life during the lockdown.
AL: The pandemic has affected the music industry in multiple ways, Records are done remotely. People cannot sit in studios and jam, videos cannot be recorded and hence this makes it very difficult to make a lot of projects due to the constraints.
Q. What distinguishesParadigm Records from other labels?
A. AL: Well I believe what makes paradigm stand out is the fact that we don’t take away the copyrights of the music from the artists, because I believe that the artist is the creator and should own the copyrights, and hence as a label we don’t take the copyrights and rather do a contractual deal with the artist.
Q. Can you specify the genre of the EP?
A. JR: It’s best described as a crossover between Lo-Fi and Hip-Hop, but in one word, we can say, it is‘Experimental’.
Q. Since offline revenue, tours and shows can’t happen amid the pandemic, how are you planning to monetize the project?
A. SK: The idea here is to spread our music to as many people as possible in our network and see what projects we can get because of the work we’ve done here.