Inspiration to become a musician came early into Magee’s life. Growing up in a family of musicians only helped with his musical endeavours. “My dad is a percussionist who plays the Djambe, and my grandfather played the Tabla as part of Zakir Hussain’s tour troupe. My grandfather started training me as soon as I was old enough to play the Tabla, so we all expected to see myself grow into a full-time percussionist. I loved it so much that I couldn’t imagine myself play any other instrument, but thanks to some amazing music coaches, I eventually picked up vocals and the guitar which became my strong suite.”

Speaking about his creative process, “If you delve into the process for too long, the song will never sound good to you. There’ll always be scope for improvement. With both Never/Yours and Figure It Out, I just came up with a melody on my guitar which I knew would work and then recorded the vocals and other sounds on top of it. Both these songs took me only a couple of hours from start to finish and I refrained myself from giving into making further edits because there’s no compelling end to that process.” This is a great takeaway for other budding songwriters – release yourself from the pressure to write quickly, unless you have a deadline to adhere to. Keep the timing natural, but completing songs will benefit your songwriting skills. There are plenty of songwriters for whom writing a song is a long venture of many days, weeks, even years, and those are not periods of frustration and aggravation. Like a sculptor constantly moulding, shaping, honing a lump of clay until it looks right, they take their time, and they enjoy the process. But then there are also songwriters like Magee who can feel the instinctive euphoria of the song working, very early into the process.

About his recent single “Never / Yours”, Anchit says that the song is about longing for an old lover or friend. On the sonic front, the track includes acoustic guitar plucking over electronic layers, a striking guitar solo and Magee’s saccharine vocals. Adamya Bajaj at New Delhi’s Tiny Room Studio co-produced, mixed and mastered the track. “I combed through studios in Delhi and the internet to find someone who would get my ideas, and what I’m trying to convey with my music. Adamya and I clicked and established quick recording progress soon after we met. All my tracks have been in collaboration with him.”

Anchit also credits the success of the song to visual artist Aditya Rahul, who conceptualized, animated and directed the video. The visuals in rose-tinted colors follow a dire story of two explorers on separate journeys, voyaging deep into space. The video ends on a hopeful note, questioning the uncertainty that our universe and lives holds.