A multi-instrumentalist musician in the true sense, composer, producer Astaaq Ahmed has pursued playing the keyboard, guitar, and percussion through the years. Furthermore, production got him to delve deeper into newer instruments such as ukelele, tin whistle, dhol, bass, and of course vocals. He runs The Earflower Experiment, a solo independent project, where he creates music that explores the boundaries between acoustic instrumentation and modern production. Interested in the invisible connections that exist around us, Astaaq’s music explores the relationships between disparate audial elements. All of Astaaq’s songs are co-produced, mixed, and mastered by Aman Saxena.
Stream ‘The Earflower Experiment’ on Spotify – https://spoti.fi/35EA5pv
Astaaq was initiated into music very early on in life. “I started playing music when I was about five years old and my mother tells me that I loved fiddling with the keyboard which is why she enrolled me in classes. Since then, I’ve been delving into various musical instruments, although I’d say drums is my primary instrument.”
Having grown up on a balanced diet of classic rock, Indian classical, heavy metal, and alternative music, he explains, “In fact, my family is very musical. My dad sings a lot of Kishore Kumar songs like most dads of our generation and my brother trained in Hindustani classical music for some time. He’s eight years older than I and always had great taste in music. I would credit a hundred percent of my musical preferences and emulation to him. I grew up on Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and further, grew an interest in bands such as Incubus. Other than that, I’m into Porcupine Tree which shines through the progressive nature of my music. Whenever someone tells me that my music sounds like Steven Wilson, I take it as a tremendous compliment.”
Astaaq is an alumnus of the Gurugram based Performers Collective School of Music which is run by Jack Thomas. Recalling his time here as one of his fondest musical memories, he says “The school became my home away from home and I relished the time here so much that I’d stay on for hours beyond class hours. I made a lot of friends here with both the mentors and fellow-class goers, using this time to hone my skills. The time I spent here really shaped the foundation of who I am as a musician today.”
Juxtaposing apparently dissonant sounds to create new harmonies
All the songs released by The EarFlower Experiment incorporate unorthodox and unique elements that juxtapose each other, constructing complex emotional structures that vibrate to life in the mind of the listener. Just by placing heterogenous sound elements next to each other, they immediately start a conversation as your brain tries to wrap itself around their relationship. Astaaq is able to perceive that relationship in a lot of ways and present it to the listener, which is what his music is about – it’s the ability of the mind. “I was always fascinated by sampling. Sometime in the second year of college, I bought an audio interface and a Midi Keyboard, after which the possibilities of creation became boundless. That’s when I started dabbling with creating full songs from scratch. I am fascinated by how disparate elements can come together and form a bond with each other, so if you listen to any of my songs, you’ll find sonic elements that would seemingly sound odd if combined, but still sound good when blended,” the artists describes. I just want my music to sound good, irrespective of the genre. In 2018, when I put out my first EP and thought about what I should call myself, I decided to add ‘experiment’ to everything I do, so as to not be genre-bound,” he adds.
The Earflower Experiment’s latest single, Grow
Describing his latest single, Astaaq says, “Grow, has about 100 unique sound elements layered on top of each other which one can hear at various times through the duration of the song. It’s not like a regular guitar-bass song. It’s fascinating to me how these elements sit together when overlaid.” This is true for not just Grow, but all of his other tracks as well. When listening to his music astutely, one can tell how multiple elements have been arranged to sit well with each other.
Grow is the third song in the series following the artist’s previous releases Emerge and Khiana. While Emerge was formulated on the theme of toxic relationships, Khiana was about overcoming betrayal, and Grow closes the vicious circle of dysfunctional relationships by signifying progress. “Grow forms the third stage of living my experience through my music. It is based on a tumultuous personal experience of mine. I was being pushed to be someone I’m not, by a person, I believed, cared about me – as I did them. However, over time, and with a lot of unlearning, I was able to poke holes in their logic, allowing a lot of painful truths to journey into my conscious thought. The track aims to document this journey, and bid a final goodbye to this phase in my life that played a huge role in making me the person I am today, ” Astaaq says.
Long-term musical association with co-producer Aman Saxena
About working with Aman, Astaaq says, “When I made my first track eight years back, I put it up on SoundCloud and sent a link to Aman because I felt he would connect with the track, and he did. He made some amazing suggestions which got us talking. In 2018, when I was recording my first EP, I reached out for his help and he came over from Bombay to take over audio engineering and co-produced the album. That was when we realized we could work together and create some really amazing music. Even in the case of Grow, Aman added elements to the demo version which completely accentuated the mood of the song and helped solidify the last track.”
On making a successful, zero-budget song video
The Earflower Experiment released a zero-budget, DIY video creative for Grow, showcasing tranquil visuals that encapsulate the song’s mood. The talented artist explains, “We had different plans for the video which couldn’t go through because of the lockdown. That’s when I thought to toy with the idea of making a video using only free-to-use stock footage, despite having absolutely no visual background. It started off as a joke, but I was able to put together a sequence of some clips which I showed to Vanshika Malik who helped me put together the narrative from start to finish. It was a gruesome process, but we were able to come up with a video that we were happy with.” The song video was picked up by VH1 and aired on the channel throughout October.
Big plans ahead
The artist who also works as a consultant in one of the Big Fours aspires to make a sustainable full-time time career in music. “I really enjoy the freedom to experiment around a composition. In any other facet of life, you have someone above reminding you of the boundaries of right and wrong. In music as in other art, there’s no such limitation, and any composition is boundlessly open to interpretation,” he says.
Astaaq has already released four tracks this year and plans to release one more single in the same series, embodying healing from broken relationships later this year. He’s also releasing an EP in 2021.
Follow The Earflower Experiment here – Streaming links | Instagram
