Easy Wanderlings

Mayflower, from their new album, is a rather lovely song featuring the mellifluous voice of singer Nikhil D’Souza. They released the track a few weeks ago, before the big release of their EP this month called Caught in a Parade. The pandemic shuffled multiple things for multiple people. Similarly for the Easy musicians, even though it pulled them down when their debut US tour got shelved, that setback became the seed of this new EP. It explores the emotions and feelings of how we wish life had dealt us a better hand.

The Easy Wanderlings, who have performed alongside artists like Jose Gonzalez and Alt J, have also announced a multi-city tour. They will be playing in cities across India including Delhi, Pune, Chennai, Bangalore, and Shillong. Below, the members of the band tell us more about their journey and the new music.

FLUID STRUCTURE
Easy Wanderlings is an eight-piece collective at its core. If it was up to us, we’d like to play with all eight members all of the time. Unfortunately, venues can’t afford to cover the cost of all of us, or sometimes the schedules don’t work for a band member. Hence, we have created unique musical arrangements for different shows based on who is available. For bigger performances like festivals, and our recent NCPA show, we try to go the extra mile by bringing on board a horn section, backup vocals, or even a string section. We try to keep our music ever-evolving and straight from the heart. Every member in the band brings in a unique perspective that helps us be more flexible with our creativity.

MAYFLOWER
The concept revolves around envy, and how we’re all striving to move up in life. A few days after our US tour got cancelled due to the pandemic, we felt frustrated about everything that we had lost. It felt like we were much further away from where we wanted to be, and directionless. At that point, all we could think about was other people’s success and missed opportunities. That was the core emotion behind the track, but in the end, the song also talks about how we are all on the same side here and that there is space for everyone to grow and succeed. Nikhil’s vocal texture is unique, and we felt he could bring out the sentiment of the song. We sent him a demo and he wrote back saying he’d like do it. He is a sweet and simple person, super easy to work with, and put up with all of us and our requests to make the song what it is today.

CREATIVE PROCESS
We do have a process. First, Sanyanth creates the basic structure with the melody and lyrics. Once that is done, the whole band sits together and structures the song in a rehearsal studio. We then play it live and make the necessary tweaks based on what works and what doesn’t.