I remember having a conversation with a friend of mine, who also happens to be a visual artist, when I was visiting Goa. He mentioned and I agreed that, artistically, we live in an age of curation. The more extreme the curation, the higher the chances of the art getting recognised. What could be more ridiculous than the curatorial trio of noise, pop and rock. Extreme curation also runs the risk of the art becoming a gimmick and I fully concede that. But this album isn’t one. It goes beyond the superficial intermingling of palettes, it has heart. If I had to use one word to describe this album, it would be audacious.
Having said that the album still sounds very indie and embraces a full DIY approach, a theme that is common amongst the emerging artists of our indie landscape, at least those of substance. No offence. As a first time listen, for those of whom aren’t particularly accustomed to the flavour of noise, this album can be slightly jarring. I was caught off guard by the mix. Especially since his earlier stuff sounded more polished. But it was only after a couple of listens, that I realised that, the noise was left to behave exactly how it does. It wasn’t some watered down, tame or palatable layer in a pop rock album. Now that would’ve been gimmicky for sure. The noise affects the mix, the way it translates on speakers/earphones and the fact that Sunflower Tape Machine a.k.a. Aryaman Singh, let that happen, is pretty cool.
Sunflower could’ve easily put his vocals way upfront, considering the songwriting choices align more with pop songwriting. The lyrics are straightforward and melodies, memorable. Despite how crowded the songs sound, the vocal stacks are fairly discernible. But they come stitched with the whole package, that’s the deal. In fact every part feels glued to all the other adjacent parts of a song. Eating one involves eating all of them. That’s the charm and the spirit of noise. It should be noted the noise isn’t a separate layer but an overly exaggerated outcome of all the instruments on the record. Everything adds up and compounds to make a wall of sound, on which the musical ideas of the artist, imprint themselves.
The song ‘((ISAWU))’ is a good example of the treatment I mentioned. The vocals are purely pop but in the context of the song, they’re part of a much larger canvas that seeks to highlight the chaos of the interaction of different sounds. The mere presence of a pop part doesn’t immediately override the noisy lens through which it is received. What it does do, is that it creates a gate for unfamiliar listeners to enter this world through the familiarity and catchiness of the songwriting. ‘VICTORIA’S SECRET’ my favourite of the bunch also does this really well. The songwriting and the arrangement are both mature in comparison to ‘((ISAWU))’ considering the former was written more recently and in Sunflowers worlds, one of the best songs he’s written. The track possesses restraint and doesn’t introduce unnecessary new sections for the sake of variety. The vocals are super inviting and as such still manages to be the centrepiece.
This brings me to the larger point of the album, which is the treatment, which gives hyperpop, not in an aesthetic sense but more philosophically. The songs here work because of how indulgent Sunflower has been with his use of processing. It’s excessive yes, but tasteful. The songs don’t need for example, a guitar solo or a bridge or an outro because every instrument is presented as a driving force, that successfully communicates the song. Stripped of everything, just the songs are straightforward as I’ve mentioned. ‘I DON’T WANT TO WRITE ANOTHER LOVE SONG’ which is one of the more softer numbers of the album, illustrates this. The processing on the vocals and the drums as well as the simple use of panned guitars, is enough to elevate the energy of the song to a point where everything almost starts sound like one sound. But even more than this the interlude ‘A LOVE LETTER TO NOISE’ explains perfectly the ethos of this album and the processes involved in making it. The outcome is the idea and the interaction of the instrument with the pedals is the busy canvas. Chance is the brush that paints on it.
Aesthetically, Sunflower, through this body of work, presents a legitimate possibility of Indian Pop. Not that other experiments are somehow illegitimate. I’m sure there is a place for every kind. It left me wondering whether these songs would’ve worked had they been presented through a different lens. All this to say the songs themselves are good. More importantly this album is genre bending and experimental without being labelled as such. It speaks highly of where the artist places exploration in his priorities while creating a body of work. At this point I should clarify this isn’t a “noise” album. Technically, its more rock. Actually, it doesn’t matter because it’ll take the fun out this album if I do. In this age of curation what really identifies as pure anyway?
Listen to ‘I LIKE NOISE. MATTER OF FACT, I LOVE IT.’ on Apple Music & Spotify
