Photography Soham Joshi
Although BUCK WILD marked Karshni’s first official album release, this singer-songwriter has been steadily capturing the attention of audiences and industry alike for the past few years for the depth of her songwriting. Combining vulnerability, play and wistfulness, her conversational tone extends to her live performances, presenting an unfamiliar yet comforting candour that has warmed hearts and set sights on this young artist from Pune as one to watch out for. Having focussed early in her career on collaborative tracks, Karshni has worked with many indie artists, including Hedrun and Dropped Out. However, her most noteworthy collaboration thus far was with Three Oscillators on the song Drowning, which has over one million streams on Spotify.
BUCK WILD was born out of the harrowing experiences Karshni has faced in the past; moments that compelled her to drop everything and write. It was the only way she could make sense of emotions, she tells us. The album also includes a few reworkings of previously released songs, which she has now resurrected with a new narrative. What you’ll hear on this record is a completely transformed sound, one that has shifted from an indie darling sonic identity to something sharper and boldly experimental.
Going Buck Wild
It was a phrase that was mentioned by a friend and it just stuck. I loved how obnoxiously it would leave the mouth and how it could mean anything crazy. In the context of my life, I associated the phrase with sex, which I came to find was also the origin of it. I think some subliminal quality of it runs through the album in sound and also through the artwork. Some janky, grungy, rough-around-the-edges thing that is resonant with the phrase itself.
A Spectrum of Emotions
The process of creating after feeling something strongly is feral but sorrowful. There’s no triumph or glory at the end; it just kind of tethers off. But I like to joke about that within a song. I think you should cry and laugh while making music. A full spectrum of emotions is healthy, if anything.
Seeing Beyond the Muses
I think I was too affected by the muses that inspired my old songs like Dinner, Girl and Maxillofacial Surgery and so I was narrow-minded. I didn’t look at the universality of the emotion being represented in them. Once I started framing the album, I revisited these songs in 2025 and noticed how much larger they were than I thought. Much bigger than the people who inspired them, although I don’t ignore the fact that they wouldn’t exist if not for those people.
Unabashed and Unedited
My being unabashed currently poses no danger to me. Again, liberty to feel and address the emotion with immediacy. I’ve written enough songs now, so it doesn’t take me much time to write. And it helps that I hate editing [mostly because I’m lazy, not like I can’t do it]. It’s also the fact that I don’t think I can be as vulnerable, talking about the thing to another person. If I were to talk about Interlude, I’d probably weep and not get through the sentence but in a song, I have a responsibility to sing it well, with a melody that’ll perfectly portray the feeling.
Aesthetic Viewing
I was feeling crazy. I was new to Procreate, so I was whimsical with it. I also added the title to the artwork pretty early. It was only in 2025 that I took the artwork to my friend Saba [Mundley], who’s my favourite visual artist. She thought of the foil and glue gun process and we tried some stuff together. Later, she sent me the version she’d done for the artwork, along with edits from a shoot, with the same silvery, foil aesthetic. It was perfect and looked exactly how the album sounded.
Gasp then Wonder
I would like them to listen to it as they would read a story or swipe through an Instagram post. I would like them to gasp in awe and wonder and realise that this, too, can be represented musically and lyrically the way I have done. I would like them to feel all the things and then pay me for it, large, large sums of money.
The Future
Plans for my second album, and more live shows where I can play BUCK WILD. I’m honoured to work with a band that comprises the finest musicians I’ve had the pleasure of knowing and playing music with, so you’ve got to get us to your city!
This is an article from Platform's most recent Bookazine. For more such stories, grab a copy here.
Words Hansika Lohani
Date 18.9.2026