Bharat Chauhan is a Delhi-based singer-songwriter known for his melancholically psychedelic music. He was born in Himachal Pradesh and raised in Kullu. An artist who set into the music industry never intending to make money, he had a government job before he took up music as his profession. He has been writing since 2010 and released his first EP Ehsaas in 2016.
Chauhan writes songs in Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi. His music generally has a heavy emphasis on the lyrics and is known for being both calm and desolate at the same time. His lyrics are poetic with an intricate amalgam of words.
His latest album ‘Qurbat’ is a mix of acoustic, heavy/trippy, rock, and psychedelic music. The idea for the album though conceptualised by the artist in 2019, took its shape and form in January. Released on the 30th of October, each song in the album comes from Chauhan’s life experiences. “Every song in this album is personal to me. They are my personal stories,” the artist said. It was recorded in Delhi at Ghar Ka Studios with Ritwik De and Amar Pandey, and LotusTree studios.
The album starts with the bittersweet song Ik Dafa. This acoustic track begins with a simple guitar intro and is about reminiscing the past and asking a lover to meet one last time. The simplistic music arrangement paves way for the listener to pay attention to the lyrics and the depth they carry. It has subtle pathos woven very delicately through the song’s poetic lyrics.
Ghalat He Sahi, one of Chauhan’s personal favourites in the album, is a track loaded with guitar and drums. The narrator speaks of his frustrations, heartbreak and hatred towards an ex. Asaan Nahin Hota, the next song, on the other hand, talks about the difficulties of being in love. Breaking illusions of how love is supposed to look, it speaks of how relationships are not as rosy as it seems.
The EP also has songs that draw parallels between human experiences and nature. For example, there is Darakht, a song that compares the narrator’s heart to a tree handling all the seasonal changes with love as birds perched on it. Victoria, the 6th song in the album, talks about a bridge with a river flowing underneath. This Punjabi song is a metaphor for the narrator’s experience.
Guroor, however, has to be one of the most interesting songs in the album. With its psychedelic music in the midsection, the song represents the chaos of the mind with ambient sounds.
The album closes off with the track Zindagi Ki Kahani. “It is a different vibe from my usual songs. I wanted to keep it as a surprise to my fans,” said Chauhan when asked to talk about the song. As the title suggests, it is a song about life with all its ups and downs. It rounds up the album perfectly, filling hope in the listener.
The slow, simplistic, soothing songs of the album create an experience of sweet pain in the listener. The poetic, bittersweet ‘Qurbat’ is therefore an anthem for all the broken-hearted out there.
