If I ask you what accompanies you during your travels, the instant reply that I will get from most will be that it’s good music and food. We are pretty accustomed to curating a playlist even if we are off to the countryside or out for late night drives. But, what if there was a series of songs that, with a demeanour of ambiguity, makes you travel cities through a listening experience or makes you travel inwards and have a conversation with yourself? This is what the EP City of My Heart by Abhibyanjana, a singer-producer from Sikkim is all about.
Through the four songs housed by the EP, she characterises her experiences of alienation, loss, trauma, and grief across three Indian cities- Gangtok, Pune, and Mumbai. In doing so, she also takes us on a journey that leads to a character arc. This, above all, is what makes the EP connect with the listeners. Speaking of which, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration that sometimes we really do find a companion in the music that we consume and despite our lone moments, we are not really alone, or better- lonely. To be precise, a quote by F. Scott Fitzgerald sums it up well- “That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you’re not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.” However, I would like to attribute it to all forms of creative pursuits.
As Abhibyanjana puts it “Sensitivity and vulnerability are powerful. I’m writing from intersections of identity, personal always meets the political. No matter how dark my inner world, I find hope and solace in music”, the EP, starting from In Your City, which is about her experiences with alienation and disillusionment during her days in Mumbai to Promise of the Light, where she finally sees the light of hope and resilience, it is not concealed that she is letting her vulnerable self speak to the listeners. Perhaps, this is what makes it all the more special.
Now, if a listener isolates the EP from the concept or the personal touch and the technical aspects are taken into consideration, it may not offer anything beyond what they already have experienced through her previous works. So, if one has become a fan of the atmospheric production and slowcore characteristic of her former pieces, City of My Heart won’t disappoint. But, if you listen to it with an expectation of experiencing something new, then I guess, you’ll just have to resort to having a similar sonic experience with a fresher perspective, provided that she has explored darker and heavier themes here.
What can be deduced after listening to City of My Heart is that Abhibyanjana is truly letting the listeners into the city of her heart- a city where the dusk of despair engulfs her but also the dawn of determination is at the horizon. The storyline is linear and vulnerability is at its core, but the exploration of themes like urban loneliness, feelings of nostalgia, rising after falling, and the likes that usually everyone having their personal crises(mostly emotional)experience, is what City of My Heart melodically paints and successfully delivers. So, despite what life is offering you right now, if you’re feeling lonely and need a pillow to hug, listening to this EP might just work and make you feel that you belong somewhere.
