Pune based singer-songwriter Gaurav Tophakhane has come to become a staple name in the independent music circuit owing to a string of back to back releases. With ‘Dheere Se’ and ‘Kahaani’, Gaurav showcased us his strength as a pop songwriter albeit with a production formula that has worked in the past. With his latest release ‘Chup Chup’ Gaurav experiments with a grander production involving a trumpet section.
Gaurav started his musical journey in 2010 as a freelance photographer for many well known Indian bands until he found his own pop-rock band in 2014 named Skylight Vision. Skylight Vision released their debut EP in October 2014 followed by their collaboration with Shaair & Func. Skylight Vision was the only Pune act which played at NH7 weekender Pune 2015 and played a bunch of shows all over India till mid 2017 post which the band went on an indefinite hiatus. Gaurav then decided to start working on his solo project.
‘Chup Chup’ begins with an upbeat trumpet section, slowly transitioning into a rock inspired rhytm section. The trumpets then return again in the chorus to add a final flourish to an already groovy chorus. The song talks about not dwelling on the incidents from the past and living in the present moment without thinking about tomorrow. Overall, the song packs a punch due to being compositionally and lyrically strong, and a deft use of trumpets to make the song larger than life, sonically. The track ends with slow piano notes, as if bringing the energy back to it’s normal resting phase.
Telling us how the addition of the trumpets came about, Gaurav says “By having Guitar or keys as my primary instrument, I can say that my songs are acoustically driven and shapes around the same. For ‘Chup Chup’ as I composed the whole melody on keys, there was always more window to think besides acoustic guitars, synths while thinking about the arrangement of the song. Since lockdown I’ve been listening to a lot of Cody Fry and not kidding but sometimes horns just keep ringing in my head.
I’ve always been fascinated by brass instruments and especially trumpets and with this melody when I took it to Shaunak, the producer of this song, we both instinctively decided to have trumpet section as the highlight of the song and build the arrangement around the same. Shaunak has done an excellent work with the production of the song I feel as we both wanted to achieve a different sound altogether through this track.” He adds “I wanted to record the trumpet section live in Bombay at a studio but with constant lockdowns and curfews plus risk of traveling we couldn’t travel to record for the same. Recording the brass section live still remains a dream.”
On plans for the next year, Gaurav tell us “Thankfully I’ve been at a fine place mentally and physically to come up with a bunch of ideas for my new material which I’ve been writing. Due to the pandemic, I’ve been home since march as we all are stuck behind our doors. This has allowed me to work on my own craft of songwriting. After releasing 3 singles throughout this pandemic till now and three more to release by January, finally I’ve started working on my debut EP. I feel with 7 singles out by January, its time for me to take a step beyond just releasing singles at regular interval of time. So yes an EP and a couple of music videos to look forward to in 2021 for sure.”
