The Mughal era-inspired paintings for Museum has been designed by Nisha Vasudevan.
| Photograph Credit score: Particular association

One half introspection coupled with two components every of retrospection and bereavement make for a heady lyrical concoction served in Mumbai-based musician Tejas Menon’s new EP, Museum. The lingering sense of nostalgia, articulated with the harmonic timbre of the sarangi, units the tonality of the four-track EP, which takes off on a meditative be aware within the prelude, ‘Exspiravit in Machina’, the place the phrases “I bear in mind” reverberate on a loop. The voice belongs to the singer-songwriter’s father, who handed away in 2021, and the audio is extracted from the final of his movies. “This one is from when my father was addressing my sister on her fiftieth birthday. I couldn’t assist however replicate on these phrases. So, I cleaned up the audio with AI and added it to the EP. It’s harking back to Mufasa in The Lion King or the ghost of Hamlet’s father… like he’s there with us, in spirit,” Tejas says.

Although Tejas pegs the development of the EP’s emotional moodboard on the universality of shedding one’s mother and father, making it relatable to his listeners, there’s a private curve to it — the one that’s rooted within the difficult relationship along with his father.

Tejas Menon
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Particular association

“Museum has been an try at not simply reconciliation with my reminiscence of my father, but in addition an exploration into my id on a extra literal degree. Who I’m as an Indian, as an immigrant, and to review my very own historical past,” he shares. As Tejas takes us via his father’s final years, he talks about nursing him on the hospital as his situation deteriorated from renal failure and different subsequent illnesses.

He elaborates on his father’s absence from his life for practically seven years, his separation from his mom, and the way he units sail to the UAE in 1973. “In the direction of the tip, I attempted to be a accountable son and be there for him, however within the earlier instances I simply didn’t have it in me to take action. I nonetheless have regrets about the kind of son I used to be. My music, or what I dwell and write about, is just not an atonement however some type of penance or meditation on what it means to lose one thing that I assumed I didn’t care about, however there was no selection actually. When he died, I used to be a multitude. I suppose you at all times attempt to chase your dad or mum’s acknowledgement, and I’m no completely different,” he says.

The voice of Archie in Netflix’s The Archies, Tejas has launched one EP Small Victories and two albums Outlast and Make It Occur, earlier than Museum. His signature model is a medley of rock, funk, R&B, soul and digital, however Museum is a “vital departure” — in his phrases — from his standard expression. It borrows from his affiliation with a 2021 documentary titled The Beatles and India. “I used to be briefly interviewed for the movie, and in its companion album, Indian artistes have been requested to cowl the band’s songs. It was a really attention-grabbing factor for me to get a classes Carnatic violinist to return in and observe a 150-year-old violin on the duvet of Throughout the Universe.” The music additionally stems from Tejas’s reminiscence of his father devouring a beneficiant dose of ghazals and people music whereas in Dubai.

Tejas Menon
| Photograph Credit score:
Particular association

The EP, produced by Tejas, Jehangir Jehangir and Adil Kurwa, options Indian classical devices, like bulbul tarang. Launched on Misfits Inc., it has Tejas on lead vocals and electrical guitar, Adil Kurwa on bass, Jehangir Jehangir on drums, Aari Nanji on backing vocals responsibility, mandolin and acoustic guitar, Sharad Rao on guitars, and Maalika Barot on backing vocals.

The title is a recollection of Tejas’s visits to museums in numerous nations along with his father, as a lot because it refers back to the museum of reminiscences that reside inside his thoughts. “I’ve at all times liked historical past. I perceive the worth of studying from one’s errors, and it’s such an attention-grabbing strategy to educate ourselves by seeing the objects on the museum and understanding them from that perspective. I had this in my thoughts, however I didn’t perceive that there’s an inner museum,” he provides.

The journey of Museum has not ended for Tejas. He’s already constructing upon it and can compile it right into a full album, publish monsoon.

The EP is accessible on Spotify and YouTube.