When we hear musician Alboe’s first released song, ‘Sahi’, from his upcoming album Enroute 24, it sounds as if Indian classical music is making its way to the dance floor. ‘Sahi’ is a cascade of shimmering melodic soft tunes of santoor layered on pulsating and intense bass lines and beats, the latter often used in hip-hop or dubstep dance sequences. The track is mainly instrumental with soothing retro style harmonised vocals uttering ‘Tera Mera, Pyaar, Teda Mera Sansar ...Sahi Hai’. Alboe (the moniker of Hindustani classical trained vocalist Vedant Chandra; Alboe is an acronym of A Little Bit Of Everything) has written and composed it, and it came about from him finding inspiration in disparate places. A Shah Rukh Khan quote on recognition by his fans, for instance. The journey of several successful personalities got Alboe thinking about the whole gamut of success and fame — including the inevitable struggles, hard work, insecurities to it driving the purpose of life and even the futility of achieving the unthinkable. All of these made their way into the new album Enroute 24.
“In 2021 and 2022 my social media was flooded with news and interviews of super famous people like Elon Musk, Shah Rukh Khan, Warren Buffett, Joe Rogan and others. But while they might be uber-rich and famous, some of them might as well be losing out on some of the beautiful parts of life. Enroute 24 is a story of the journey of achieving hyper-fame,” he says.
Mix of influences
Today, Alboe is opening the nine-track album at the ongoing Ziro Festival in Arunachal Pradesh. “I am really excited to play in the Northeast, more so because Ziro focuses mainly on music, unlike other festivals that also includes dance. I’ve been given a late night spot at 2.30 am so I am nervous yet excited to see how many people turn up!” he says. The artiste has previously performed at the Magnetic Fields Festival, Off Grid Festival, Gaia Festival, The Cymbal Festival, Dance OK Please, and other eminent platforms.
The Delhi-based artist has been growing exponentially in his musical career since 2017 with prowess in singing, keys, percussion, pop-like vocals, and electronic music.
Alboe’s brand of Indian-classical-meets-western soundscapes comes from his early training in Hindustani classical music at the age of four. “For both my parents, the arts is a vocation. My father plays the flute and my mother is a Kathak dancer, though they also have their regular jobs. I learnt tabla at the age of eight and played drums in my boarding school.” While his initial upbringing was focused on classical music, during his college days in the US, he was introduced to electronic music. “At that time, the electronic movement was picking up. I was listening to artists like Swedish House Mafia, and the late Swedish DJ and remixer Avicii, who deeply influenced me. At the same time, the music of Indian classical stalwarts like AR Rahman tugged at my heartstrings, and so did the rock legends like Pink Floyd and Red Hot Chili Peppers. I am a sum of all these influences.”
Alboe went onto meld mixed sounds of Indian instruments with house music popularly known as Electronic Dance Music (EDM). It resulted in his debut album Painter (2021) where he describes different emotions with colours, ‘Maya’ (2022), and ‘Summer Breeze’ (2022) where he coalesced English vocals with Indian soundscape to describe feelings of mental and physical isolation in quarantine. It was during this time, in the pandemic, when the music industry was hit that Alboe took a career decision.
Taking it slow to soar
“While I’m a musician, I also run a packaging business. During lockdown, I had reached a point where I was working 18 hours a day for the business and hardly had any time to make music. I realised I did not want to lead a life like that and needed to grow slowly and steadily. I started devoting 10 hours a day to business and the rest to music. Now I am much happier as a human being. I told myself that ‘I’m allowed to smell flowers along the way’ to success,” he says.
The slowing down method worked and 2023 turned out to be a fruitful year as he released an EP like ‘Love Languages’ (2023) where he dives deep into the regional music of India, collaborating with artists from across the country to make songs in Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, and English, each one centring around the theme of long-lasting love, which was followed by singles like ‘Bloom’ (2023) and ‘Malx’ (2023).
Enroute 24, however, is “truest” to him. “I may not physically conquer the world but this album allowed me to take over the world in my head,” he says with a smile. I did want to not make catchy or trendsetting music that should fit a playlist.” The album features nine songs each one decoding a facet of fame. ‘Sahi’ delves into love as an essential partnership for success. “I recalled an interview of Shah Rukh Khan where he mentioned how Gauri, his wife, has been such a great partner who has played a key role in his success,” he says on how the interview inspired him in creation. The other songs like his “favourite”, ‘Jaadu’, are about the magic of manifesting dreams.
What’s particularly interesting in his songs is the use of metaphors to represent fame and success. For instance, ‘The Alligator’ song imagines an alligator born and stuck on land. As he grows old, he explores water. “It talks about how some people may excel in things that they are told not to try,” Alboe says. As the artist navigates his own path in the realm of fame, he finds success in self-discovery. “Understanding more about myself each passing day has given me more fulfilment than any accomplishment. As I’m aware of my shortcomings, vulnerabilities and strengths, they help me be at peace and happy.”
Enroute 24 is out on October 11 on all music platforms