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Oceans beyond lockdown: Architects make music to highlight artist’s block in quarantine
Nowhere Station, a Delhi-based music band, has launched an album from their homes to entertain public amid lockdown.
“The four of us met while studying architecture at the School of Planning and Architecture in Delhi,” recalls Dhruv Dhingra, keys player and bass guitarist of Nowhere Station — a busking band that crowd-funded an album titled Nowhere Station One, amid lockdown, from their homes, to entertain people staying indoors to follow social distancing.
The band comprises four members namely Rijul Singh, Anurag Hazarika, Anant Mital and Dhingra. Together, they have released a single titled Oceans Beyond. This single describes the creative block and pressures of being productive, as faced by many during the lockdown.
“Oceans Beyond is a song that describes an artist’s block telling us to just take a step back and wait a while; trust and have faith in ourself and in the creative process,” says Dhingra. Anant Mital, the band’s drummer adds, “The current situation with the Covid-19 pandemic, where the norm is to make the most of this extra time, has inadvertently put pressure on artists to constantly create and put out content. We have seen artists succumb to the pressures of productivity, which manifests into various mental health ailments such as depression and anxiety. In these circumstances, the song and its message is for anyone feeling this pressure.”
Being a busking band comes with its own set of challenges. Dhingra says, “Over the past few years, we have struggled with busking around in various parts of the country. While some cops have been friendly and supportive, most have chased us away from public spots.”
But the bigger hurdle was the lockdown that distorted the band’s original plan of the album release. “Our original release plan involved releasing five singles in five different cities; one single each month, culminating in an album launch in Delhi in September. As a result of the lockdown, we have reworked our plan to release the singles online while sticking to the similar timeline. Now anyone can stay updated about our album releases by following us on our Instagram handle where we have been regularly posting updates,” adds Dhingra.
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