The Only Find

UPDATE 1:

I can't believe the fact that this crowdfunding campaign for my upcoming EP 'The Only Find' has not just been successful but raised a little more than the goal amount of INR 70, 000 well ahead of time (less than 3 weeks). Thanks to a whole bunch of wonder women and superheroes for backing this mini-album, it'd have been absolutely impossible without you!

Now that almost 90% of my production costs has gotten covered, which consists of the most basic production expenses, I'm gonna add a quick stretch goal.

I'm now revising the goal amount of Rs. 70, 000 to Rs. 90, 000 to cover two things:
1) All my production costs, that is including added guitar parts worked upon by in-house studio personnel
2) Miscellaneous Costs, which includes a part of Photography, Design, Campaign Video and other such costs.

I believe with support from a whole lot more of amazing folks out there, I can hope to raise this target amount of INR 90, 000 over the last 7 days of this campaign!

--------------------------------

About The Fundraiser:

I caught the writing bug while in school, although music was omnipresent since the start. However, all of it started to come together when I had to stop playing football for IIT coaching. I learned to play the guitar, and since I could always sing, I started creating tunes. Over the years, I honed my songwriting skills, while performing occasionally. However, I took the plunge in 2016 as I felt that I was at a point where my songwriting was making serious sense and I was falling head-over-heels in love with my own tunes. I quit my job, deferred my further studies and pursued it, with all my gusto. Over the last two years, I have played shows in multiple cities across India and the responses kept me going. I released my humbly recorded debut EP last year, and I believe now is the best time to take this many notches higher. I'm here to crowdfund my first-ever professionally recorded EP that has, what I feel, some of the best work I've written and created till date. 

This mini-album is called The Only Find, and it shall have 5 of my songs, most of which were written over the last two years. It draws inspiration from this journey that started a while back and is about love, life and the constant search for the same. I'm all the more proud of the musical imagery and work I've created and I'd be humbled if those very folks who have helped me to continue this passion were involved.
 

India's music ecosystem is largely film music (Bollywood and the likes) that forms the mainstream while independent art of any kind is a movement that needs all the help it can get to not just sustain itself, but also grow. While a lot of such indie creators and consumers have come together to find each other, I wish to see The Only Find EP join that sea of change and by itself, stand out as an example of what good unique songwriting and production together can achieve.

 Sri (aka Srijit Bhowmick) is an indie singer-songwriter from Bombay. At times, his tunes straddle between indie folk and indie rock but at all times, it exists outside of these narrow walls as his unique brand of music is a combination of strong storytelling, thoughtful lyrical themes and quirks, and an extremely good and melodious voice - the distinct phrasing and style of which is hard to miss.

After years and years of working on his craft, Sri started performing his own material live from 2016 onward. Since then, he has played many shows in Bombay and elsewhere leaving his audiences at shows, spellbound and in awe of the uniqueness that his music brings.

To name a few shows, he has played at High Street Phoenix Mall (Bombay), Alliance Franciase D’Ahmedabad, The Habitat (Bombay), Bandcamp (Bombay), Terminal 11 (Calcutta), The Hive (Bombay), Blooperhouse Studios for Playtoome (Calcutta), Pitaara – The Art Box (Bombay), Vault Lounge Bar for FNO S03 Launch (Calcutta), The Candyman’s Tape Deck Vol 01 (Ahmedabad), a Beatmap House Party (Bombay), The Finch (Bombay) and for Sofar Sounds sessions (Bombay, Ahmedabad, B’lore) amongst many others while also having put up his own shows such as Indie Music Night at Bandra Base, My Indie Playlist With Sri Vol. 01 (Bombay), and three editions of Folk Sessions With Sri (Bombay). 

Here are some of my tunes:

1. Sri - Hunger Of My Soul (Live at The Habitat, June '18)

2. Sri - A Mile Away (FNO, S03E12)

3. Sri - Fun (Live at The Habitat, June '18)

4. Hang Him ASAP (Live at The Habitat, June' 18) - Click here
5. Live for Playtoome, BlooperHouse Studios - Click here

And finally, here's my first EP called 'Sri' which I released in 2017 - 

iTunes - apple.co/2ga6q1t

Oklisten - bit.ly/2vesBFl

SoundCloud - bit.ly/2vZutDU

Spotify - spoti.fi/2wjUbps

Amazon - amzn.to/2x8hksn

Articles/Features/Interviews:

1. Ahmedabad Mirror, June 2016

2. Maed In India Ep. 65 by Indus Vox Media Podcasts), Sept 2016

“… will be talking to indie folk singer-songwriter, poet and storyteller Sri. He'll be talking about his escape from Kota, creating local gig scenes, his debut record and he'll be performing some of his unreleased music exclusively on Maed in India…”

3. Mid-day Interview, 25th Mar 2017

“…LOVE music and intimate indie music gigs? Head to Folk Sessions With Sri #3 ft. Osvy at Pitaara – The Art Box. This session is all about artistes playing their own material. Folk Sessions With Sri is an original indie gig series started by Srijit Bhowmick (Sri) in Jan last year..."

4. Rock Street Journal Feature, 27th Mar 2017

“… has a knack for storytelling and a strong sense of melody that make some of his tunes infectious, enough to merit him as an upcoming artist to watch out for”

5. Trunk it – Community Radio for Indian indie music, Aug ‘17

Songs from debut EP ‘Sri’ and two other singles released earlier are available on the Trunk it app available on Playstore or through the link below.
6. Apple Music Playlist feature - The A-List: Indian Pop

‘Am I Here’ from the debut EP featured on an Apple Music playlist curated by their editors every week called ‘The A-List: Indian Pop’ for over a month, alongside some of the topmost Indian indie acts. 

7. The Orijinal Interview, 2nd Oct 2017

"There’s a certain rawness to his songs, both music and lyric wise, that has a unique appeal.  We talked to Sri about how he makes such heartfelt music." 

8. Top Five Records Interview, 6th Oct 2017

"...a promising young singer-songwriter from Mumbai. In August 2017, he released his three-track EP Sri, a lilting mix of solid songwriting and good musical instincts. Bhowmick has a unique voice and wields it bravely. Although his tone itself is pleasant enough, his distinction lies in the way he makes his voice glide, shorten, elongate and stretch around the music...." 

9. Indie Bullhorn Interview, 26th Oct ‘17

“He is a distinct songwriter with a voice yearning to tell a story. He’s truly experimental with his voice and you can almost hear the emotions pour from his words.” 

10. The Indian Music Diaries Interview, Nov ‘17

“In conversation with Srijit Bhowmick aka Sri, the sombre and earnest singer-songwriter from Mumbai, where he reveals to us what music means to him, his influences and his views on the society we live in.”

11. Sbcltr Mixtape Volume 9, Sbcltr Article, Dec ’17 

“There is a raw potential to Srijit Bhowmick’s music that makes him stand out amongst the hordes of musicians who have released their music this year. Sensitive and heartfelt, his 3 track eponymous EP will have you marvelling at the unabashed vulnerability he brings to music.”

12. A-sides Playlist: ‘2017: Let’s Rewind’, Dec ‘17

13. Livewire, TheWire.in Feature, Jul ‘18

Why Crowdfunding?

I'm crowdfunding this project to ensure that the quality of my work is of professional standards. Doing it on my own would have taken a long time without any guarantee of quality or completion as I'm not a Sound Engineer. However, this way I'm able to get the right personnel on board to cover their area of expertise, so that all the elements together make the end product consumer-friendly in terms of quality. Although, these days it is much easier to make a good record, studios still costs quite a bit as one needs to rent it out on an hourly basis.

Making a record is an interesting process which requires enough time to try and understand, discover and create the sonic structures that could go into each part, space and song. Funds raised are also going to be used on the Mixing process which is where songs are balanced out, and the equalization and dynamics are sorted. A part of the funds go into Mastering, which is like quality-control. Basically, a mixed track gets that polished edge and even though it sounds simple enough, it is a very technical process of compression, limiting, and various other techniques that one can read about on the internet to understand how songs get polished and are readied for releases.

How will the money be used?

What are the risks and challenges associated with your project?

The challenges are in making music, expressing the picture in your head through that tune and words and making sure the arrangements honor that idea and flow with it, and getting the intensity of playing and layers and what not at different places right, like maybe there's a part that needs to sonically display angst or joy or a multitude of similar emotions and the likes. Sometimes, we let it cook and linger on so that if there's a particular emotion or situation or hook or a part in the song that will sound better in another way that you just thought about, you maybe take that under serious consideration.

However, those are rarely much of a challenge. In fact, quite the opposite as these are things that most songwriters enjoy, such as finding new pocketful of spaces in their songs over time. The dinosaur in the room though, is money. At the end of it all, after all the hard work and labor of love, Art will still need investment to see the light of day. The right amount of money is just as important as time and space needed to work on your art and craft. With your support, I can pay for studio time, and the amazing professionals who are helping me create this mini-album.

Great, but chuck those detailed confusing stuff. Tell me about the rewards!

That's a good question! There're a bunch of things I've come up with that I believe people will like to have especially if you dig my music in the manner I do. All the rewards are named after my songs, some from earlier releases, and rest from the five songs that are gonna be on this EP coming out this year. Every backer will receive the mini-album, so that's straight away a good reason to support. It's almost like pre-ordering the EP! There's some nice artwork being made for this record as well and I'd be delighted to share it with you as soon as its prepped completely and ready. You'll get it in the form of a poster for most of the rewards!

Right now, I'm working on on a few rewards although all are my favorites. The first is a songbook that will include the chords and lyrics to my songs from this EP with a basic chord chart for you to sing along and play. I feel this would be a great way to release the aesthetic attraction these songs may carry on their own besides giving something back to all the nice folks who have come up to me after shows singing some particular hook from one of my songs. And if that's already too much, there'll be a songbook with added material for a few rewards, so that should be make you go absolutely bonkers too. The physical copy for some rewards will also include some more exclusive content such as my debut EP, previously released singles and demos other than a few more surprises. Say whaaaaaaat!

The third reward I'm most looking forward to, is a compilation of behind-the-scenes footage shot during the recording of this mini-album, a creepy but superbly interesting way of showing you exclusive glimpses of what goes on during a recording at a studio. There would be some more detailed glimpses from the recording sessions and a bunch of other bonus material that will be be out in February as a bouquet of pleasant surprises for a few rewards. It would have bonus unreleased tracks, rough recordings and those first few recordings where the song, that is the melody and the lyrics, was being ideated and written, other than interviews and other surprises. And yet, it's not over cause I intend to spoil you with more. Hence, the fourth reward I'm tremendously excited about is that of a T-shirt and a Mug that you may also find an everyday use with!

I'm most certainly a young songwriter but it's been a little more than a decade since I first started writing poems and songs that made sense first to me, and then to others. However, after years of writing and failing and writing and falling more and more in love with my own songs, written and bettered every now and then, I can share some of the things I've learned over time and break it down exclusively for you to show you how I go about writing a song. I'd love to share my experiences on writing lyrics, melodies, chord progressions, storytelling or even break down a song of your choice to show you the art of songwriting in my songwriting classes.

*Cost of international shipping to be borne by backers

TEAM - 

Nitin M Krishna - Recording/Mixing Engineer/Co-producer/Keys (Gray Spark Audio, Pune)  

Kamran Raza - Bass

Aryaman Chatterji - Drums

Ronak Runwal - Mastering Engineer (Gray Spark Audio, Pune)

Here's a quick update