“If you ever wanted to convince someone to listen to my music, then you would say, if you like Death Cab for Cutie but you want to make a little bit more Lana Del Rey, you should listen to it.” Meet Ash Lune; a Mumbai-born, Brisbane-based artist whose ethereal voice just floats above the music in her debut single, ‘Panic at the Party’. The track is a dreamy delight with feelings of melancholy, yearning and longing. It also has layers of instruments, like a deep piano melody, with blotched guitar strings and showcases her amazing range as a vocalist.
The track, ‘Panic at the Party’, gets its name from its theme of social anxiety and awkwardness—how one can be in a room full of people but still feel lonely. “I was doing my Masters of Counselling in Psychology at the University of Queensland, working part time and then be at the studio for at least four to five hours every alternate day and that’s when ‘Panic at the Party’ was written,” she explains. ‘I was going through so much stress and anxiety and I was at a breaking point. Anything would happen and I would just start crying. The song was like an amalgamation of what was happening and that really messed me up for life but at least a good song came out of it.”
Ash’s early life was coloured with vivid dreams of becoming an astronaut or a rocket scientist with her obsession with space, she has even named her guitar after Pluto. “I call him Pluto because he is a classic Spanish guitar and he is very small and he is black. My first ever guitar.” But getting to space still is a distant dream because music followed Ash through her adolescence and she could never give up on it. “I would always picture myself as a musician. I came to Australia and told my parents, ‘I am going to look at music like a hobby and pursue counselling and one day when I’ll be rich enough, I’ll just make music’. Just like a classical Asian girl who wants to make her parents happy”. Ash did have a few interested elements with people listening to her tiny little projects in Bombay but music became the way of life and a career choice only when she moved away.
Her love for the piano reflects her passion for South-Korean pianist, Yiruma’s classical piece, ‘River Flows in You’. “I always hoped a boy would play that piece for me and I would immediately fall for him. That never happened obviously, so I learnt to play it myself. I bought a little keyboard and went from there.”
Coming up next is a track called ‘Before’ from her EP scheduled to come out later this year. “It’s a very personal song. It’s about my best friend and I. It’s a literally from a conversation we were having; about how our dreams do come true but you do come back to reality. I am living the dream because I always wanted to work with the management, I wanted to but your brain is still your brain. If you have anxiety, it’s not gonna go away just because you are living your dream. You are just going to find other things to be anx- ious about. And I was under the impression that I would be happy in the moment I will be signed up by the label or I’m going to be happy the moment this happens or that happens. Just waiting to be happy,” explains Ash.
Mental health issues have often found a place in Ash’s music not only since she is a trained therapist but because she strongly believes how gravely important this subject is for a better tomorrow. “I have never met anyone who doesn’t have mental difficulties. Currently, everyone needs to go to therapy. With my music, I hope it brings out this issue and starts a conversation.”
An Indian indie musician has finally found a place, miles away from home. What was her experience like back home? How challenging was it to make a name, I asked before wrapping up? “It was very interesting back home because I had a few good and bad experiences. I feel I am taken a lot more seriously here in Australia in terms of what I want to do. I am not saying people in India are bad but, in my experience, I have had a better time here as an artist. The Indian audience was amazing. I have never received hate. I feel like music is more a job for me here than it was back home. But I had a great time going to open mics when I was just starting out.” Ash does have a few Indian artists she would love to collaborate with. “I definitely would want to collaborate with Adi, who’s a rapper from Bombay and f16s. I just know one song of theirs but that is just so good. I would love to work with them because they make music that I would like to listen to or that I would try to make. And Prateek Kuhad. His music is so good. I love the way he writes his melodies.”
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Text Hansika Lohani Mehtani
Date 26-01-2022