PG: How has your Indian background influenced your music? What other major inspirations do you have?
AR: I use a lot of microtonal suggestions in the way I sing, especially when I'm painting sound palettes in the back of music. I grew up listening to both classical and Bollywood music from different decades and it's definitely a part of the way I express sound, but I think it's a lot more subtle in the way it comes out in my work
Aside from Indian music I'm heavily influenced by folk music, flamenco music, and R&B/Blues/Jazz...a lot of Ginger Libations was comprised of jazz artists and though I'd place the songs more in the world of pop you can hear the jazz influence in the ways we'd make music together. Some of my favorite current inspirations are Y La Bamba, Nai Palm, Anushka Shankar, Adrienne Lenker, Cleo Soul, D'Angelo, Billie Holiday, Pharoah Sanders, Estrella Morente and Violetta Para.
PG: How was the process filming "Ozone High" and "Splendor Never Ends"? Did you come up with the music video concepts or was it more of an ensemble thing?
AR: It was really fun to film both videos. “Ozone High” was more involved and directed by Emma Ferrer. The concept was mostly thought up by Ferrer and we filmed over the summer. We filmed on a beach on Staten Island at 3am to film with the sunrise.
“Splendor Never Ends” was created by myself and came together quicker on no budget. My sister helped me film some of the scenes and was dancing in some of the shots. We put balloons in our shirts and dresses to pretend to be pregnant haha. This happened two or three months in of the first quarantine so we were bored. After collecting enough footage I collaged everything together with a live session of a performance by the band and some footage I've collected on travels, tours, or in the woods around my parents’ house where I filmed “Splendor Never Ends.”
Both films were edited by myself and finished in Brooklyn where I currently live. I get a high from filming, especially when it's with a group of artists, and that feeling is really what I live for and why I create.
Leave a Comment