The evocative Indian singer and producer Vandana has just released her latest EP, ‘Nox Anima’. Fusing elements of disquieting electronica with alternative pop, Vandana’s angular, intense music embraces womanhood and otherness as if from inside the mouth of a cave. Her multicultural lifestyle, from India to London to Brooklyn, has influenced her wildly eclectic and self-assured material, which arrives steeped in the knowledge of ancient Indian traditions and fables as well as in assorted vehicles of abstract art and thought. The whole EP twists about on a mixture of abstract and visceral themes, building you up before submerging you in swirls of throbbing sound that threaten to unsettle your very core.
This was quite a conflicting EP for me to get done. My personal life was in upheaval at the time and I had a ton of songs to choose from – I finally decided to do just 5 for this. Having Ryan Casey, my friend and ex-band mate step in to co-produce it on the closing stages of production really helped realise it for me. He is incredibly talented and knowledgeable, and opens my eyes a little wider every day.
Inspired by musical pioneers like Aphex Twin, Thom Yorke and Miles Davis as well as the vibrancy of Bollywood, the Gothicism of The Cure and the evocativeness of Fever Ray, Vandana also takes her cues from purveyors of subversion like Edgar Allan Poe, Lars Von Trier and Henry Miller. In this latest material, the naturally introverted singer brings her insular and mysterious writing process to life via slow-dripping, throbbing synths, creating an atmosphere that’s arcane, exotic and brooding. An instinctive and intimate record – and one that was created in Vandana’s home studio during a period of solitary retreat – the five-track EP makes for a truly absorbing listen.
Check out Vandana’s exclusive playlist for KALTBLUT here
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