Keshav Chandradath Singh is Starring in His Own One-man Show
The singer/songwriter/music producer remarkably plays, sings and pens everything on his impressive debut EP Attraction. The four-track genre-crossing record, which was released on his birthday on March 12, is a must listen for musicians and fans alike.
“I employ the same workflow and logic to producing myself as I would with any other artist, but because nothing can be lost in translation, the communication is exponentially more efficient,” Keshav responded rather coyly when asked by the Kitcharee about the degree of difficulty in managing himself in the recording studio.
An internationally respected music producer, Keshav has worked with some heavy hitters around the region including hitmaking DJ collective Major Lazer, Jamaican dancehall stars Beenie Man (Moses Davis) and Busy Signal (Glendale Gordon) and soca acts Bunji Garlin (Ian Alvarez), Machel Montano and Kes (Kees Dieffenthaller), among others.
Attraction is released under his Heavy Drumz label and distributed by Shayegan Media Ltd.
“It’s something I’m getting very addicted to,” Keshav continued about being in full control of every aspect of the music making process.
“I would say that I definitely spare no detail in the production phase of these records, but at a certain point once vocals are down and you’ve mostly mixed the song, you have to take a moment and switch gears to see the record as a whole painting and decide that it’s finished and send it off to the distributor.”
Apart from the obvious liberties of self-production Keshav says he found the process exponentially quicker.
“I’ve worked a lot collaboratively throughout my career as a producer. Directing/guiding/articulating thoughts and instructions to artists, singers and other musicians is a certain type of colourful language. Working within myself however nullifies the need to externalise anything other than the lyrics/words/sounds and melodies as a whole, so I feel the process is very freeing. It’s also a lot quicker as I can deal with everything one time. I’ve found myself producing, recording vocals and doing most of the mix one day at a time with some of these records,” he revealed.
A diary of experiences
Keshav’s music reflects his experiences as a well-travelled musician. The son of T&T diplomat Chandradath Singh, he spent his youth between India, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States during his father’s various deployments.
“Honestly, the music on this EP is inspired by how I was feeling about love and attraction at the time, in a very simple and translatable sense.
You’ll notice that each of the four tunes sound like different genres, but they’re threaded together by the backbone of my thoughts and melodies on how it feels to be loved and attracted to someone,” he explains.
Unfortunately, while in the middle of creating the project Keshav learned of the passing of his close friend Vanna Girod. The singer/actress drowned in Arnos Vale, Tobago on January 26.
“Vanna and I spent years together and I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that she taught me a thing or two about love and attraction. She was a tiny girl, but her presence was massive and as we all have seen, felt around the world. I knew her differently than just about anyone and I simply honour her,” Keshav said of Girod.
Among the many lessons he said he took from Girod was the power of keeping things simple. The two recorded and released the pop song “Feels Good” in 2013.
“She was a hard and no-nonsense critic of all of my work which I greatly appreciated. She was always about keeping it simple in the music and this more pop-oriented material most definitely isn’t trying to write a thesis. The songs on this EP are not inspired by anything to do with Vanna’s death, but the way I write and work has definitely been influenced by her,” he added.
Keshav says he now turns his attention to completing his full album which is set for release this September. He has decided on 13 songs from the near 50 he wrote during the pandemic, he revealed.
“I would essentially be ‘coming out of nowhere’ as an unknown quantity, I decided to free up and record a bunch of material that is more energetic, clubby, radio oriented and within my existing wheelhouse, which is what everyone is hearing now. I’ve also been working with a simple and concise live band for all the material featuring Jon Otway on Drums, Tamo Harewood on bass and keys and we’re running samples from the productions underneath,” Keshav concluded.
