You give the love you wish to receive, which pretty much sums up what love language, a term that is been thrown around Instagram every day now, actually means. While the talk of varying love languages has certainly flooded our feeds, the conversation about self-love has taken a back seat.
New Delhi-based electronica producer and singer, Vedant Chandra, who goes by the stage name Alboe, with his latest EP plays on the concept of introspective love, one where you are at peace with yourself and confident to show affection for someone else.
Titled Love Languages, in this six-track EP, Alboe blends classical Indian music with Western influences, an inspiration he takes from his debut album The Painter. Talking about what inspired this musical recording, Alboe reveals he was practising a raga on an electronic synth sequence instead of the harmonium and he started to experiment with that fusion till he had six songs to work with. “The EP is a compilation of songs that talk about the different forms of love. Each song represents a different mood and expresses a different story,” he begins.
Known to blend classical and new wave electronica to create distinct tracks, he has worked with five singers across four languages, Bengali, Hindi, Punjabi and English to bring his musical sensibilities to this EP. But when asked to pick either one of the genres, Alboe, instead of giving a decisive answer says, “I don’t think I look at the styles separately when I’m trying to compose because it usually causes some friction in the foundation of the song. They can be seen as the building blocks of a song just the way one would look at the bass guitar, drums and keys in a band.”
Mindblown by story-telling compositions by the legendary AR Rahman and Ludovico Einaudi, Alboe started producing music during the pandemic and used the time away from the bustle to hone his skills as a composer. However, his romance with music dates back to long car rides with his family. He talks to us about his early musical influences and says, “We used to play these cassettes in the car which featured artists like Pink Floyd, The Scorpions, Michael Jackson and more.
By the time I was in college, I started attending music festivals which is when I realised I would like to pursue music as a career at some point.” Cut to 2023, Alboe now wants to use his music to make people feel something. “This is what music did for me, and I hope it does that to other people,” he concludes.