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I, Harappan, welcome to VENTS! Can you tell us about your debut single, The Free Ones?
Is there a story behind the single?
I’ve been in creative utero for the past year working on the album “The Harappan & The Devil”
Free Ones came to me at a point in my life where I was dumped, depressed and dishevelled.
Having worked on music for so long and gotten nowhere, finally one evening I just threw my hands up and was like “Im done trying to get a big break in this industry. Im going to be my own break”
Not long after after the melody came to me with the lyrics:
“We are growing, we are growing free, we are a billion years of evolution, how we’ve weathered fear and revolution”
Every single word came straight from the heart.
Your mix of music style and mythological substance is something to behold; how do you want your fans to feel when they hear The Free Ones?
Im not sure I can say how I want someone to feel!
I know how I feel when I hear it, I feel like I’m running through a field naked and jubilant.
I feel like I’ve freed myself from the definitions given to me about what a composer should be and now I’m ready to take my seat at the table.
So many of us are told to fit into a box in order to navigate this world….
What I’d like my fans to know is that you can take a long hard look at the box… and take a massive dump on it.
Then why not set it on fire?
Make a new box, your box!
Perhaps even a rectangle or a polygon or something…FREE, LOVE!
It’s the most important thing we can do with our time here.
What came first, your love of mythology or music?
Both if I’m honest.
I feel as though mythology and music go hand in hand, whether its Homers Odyssey or Layla and Majnun a musical element has always been connected to mythology in some way that I’ve found delicious!
Me? I was that overweight nerdy kid who was obsessed with Tolkien and Mariah Carey.
The escapism and world building helped keep me alive in my youth.
Can you tell us a little about the creative process behind The Free Ones?
I don’t read or write music so much of the process is about feeling.
What chords am I drawn to?- What sounds do I love?
I start the whole process in deep meditation.
Candles, harp music & biryani usually help me get into the mental state I need to be in.
The melody comes first and foremost with some lyrics, then I run to the piano and focus on the most evocative chords and rhythms- at the time I was feeling equal parts joy and anxiety.
The backing vocals, harmonies, counter harmonies and instrumental elements like harps, flutes, bass come last around the piano chords as well as refining lyrics until they are giving what they need to.
Did your experience with working with labels push you further toward Avant-Garde experimentalism?
In a way yes I suppose. It’s pushed me to pursue a sound that is all my own. I guess that is avant grade experimentalism but i’m just doing me to the nth degree.
I did a lot of research into my ancestry and discovered the Harappans, their love of equality and unicorns made me feel immediately connected.
With there being so little of them in pop culture, why not create a mythos and celebrate them to dance anthems?
What’s next for I, Harappan?
Finding my village. Music video for Free Ones. The next single TEMPEST is due for release in a few weeks. The full album release. I’d love to tour too-I have a whole show!
