Blending genres and delivering tracks that understand the audience’s pulse is a rare phenomenon in the world of music. With roots deep in Carnatic music and branches extending towards modernity, Agam, a city-based Carnatic progressive rock band has achieved it for the past 18 years. As their songs continue to hold a special place in many music lovers’ hearts, the band led by the lead vocalist Harish Sivaramakrishnan is one step closer to the release of their album ‘Arrival of the Ethereal’ with the first track The Silence That Remains, to be released today. Four out of eight tracks of the album are set to be released this year with the rest set for next year.
With songs like Veyyon Silli, Paarvanavidhuve, and Job Kurian’s Padayatra, Sivaramakrishnan has already marked his signature among music lovers. For a band that predominantly plays Carnatic classical music, the latest album is mostly about bringing wider global styles of music together, while retaining their genre of progressive metal music and Carnatic music. During the past five years since the Covid-19 pandemic, the band members have made an effort to explore different genres of music – from orchestra to western classical. “We got access to a lot more music. There was much time at home and most of us ventured out into listening to music styles that we would otherwise not have paid attention to,” he shares, adding that this exposure has influenced their sound, making it more diverse.
According to Sivaramakrishnan, the upcoming album which is the third studio album from the band, is driven by ambition. “We ended up producing all the orchestra [sections] by recording a 100-piece orchestra in Czechoslovakia. This is the most ambitious we have been in our entire time,” he adds, “We have artistes from at least five continents and almost 300 artistes have collaborated with us on the production.” About The Silence That Remains, he says, “The track speaks about topics like life, death and salvation. It is created on top of an existing Carnatic composition called Mokshamugalada.”
Beyond the theme, the song has a pretty dense arrangement true to the essence of the band’s music, Sivaramakrishnan notes. “We are excited about the funk and bass-orientated music styles of the West which we have been toying around with. And this time, we got a chance to integrate them,” he shares. Despite this, the process behind this album has been very simple. In Sivaramakrishnan’s words, “I can’t pinpoint if there was a stipulated process. Nothing can be premeditated in music. You just have an idea, you develop it, and then you subsequently get a thought about that,” he says.
While many know him predominantly as a musician, Sivaramakrishnan repertoire is vast. With a career spanning more than two decades in design – longer than his musical career – he is currently in a leadership position at fintech company CRED, post his stint at Google as design head. Amidst his busy work schedule, Sivaramakrishnan has chosen to give ample time to his musical pursuits. Besides the album release, the band is gearing up for a tour with its first stop in Bengaluru, on June 14 and 15. “Unlike a concert, this will be very intimate. We are looking to meet people in person and share a bit of our journey, and of course, play all our new tracks,” he says, adding, “This is our city, this is where we started our music. The Bengaluru audience is probably at a level which is far higher for even the music that we create – detailed and technical.”