The city’s local music scene is burgeoning with interesting local acts sprouting, every other day. Young Bengalureans Rishii Rohra and buddy Lekha Gopi are no different – but with the only difference being that they’re putting up their ‘musical’ act together and are driven to make a difference with their four-month-old band, Between Green and Me. Four jams old, the duo is in no mood to get on a gig overdrive – but rather, the focus is on bringing forth their debut single Can’t you see by the month end. In a candid chat, they tell us more...
“It's a journey through time and how people have come to forget all about the land we live in – the single mostly has got to do with vocals, I wanted to put out my own material for a really long time. So, this project is largely about that,” shares Rishi, acoustic guitarist of the band. Lekha, the vocalist of the band, adds, “Something struck me one night when I was flipping through some net news and now it's a part of our song. She's gonna live long after we're gone.She's Mother Nature. This is our first song where we're preparing our audience to listen closely as we sing to them about all the things they'd rather appreciate than war and destruction. Because, nobody really wins at war.”
The band’s formation does not have a very interesting tale to it, and is rather formulaic. “I happened to meet Lekha through a common friend, and was awed by her writing. I asked her if she would be interested in jamming with me. Things got rolling, and Between Green & Me happened.” Rishii is a working professional who quit his job as a seller support associate to pursue music. He is now a bassist and electronic music producer. Lekha on the other hand, continues to work for a tech giant.
Speaking about their influences, Lekha quips, “Rishii brought his chords to strike and allowed me to pour my heart out in songs that definitely weren't influenced by just a few musicians. Beautiful things have influenced us to write these songs – scent of the green, bright light leaks, new wooden floors at the Third Eye Studio, cement walls, breezy days by the beach, people's laughs, cigarette smoke, a lot lot more and intense observation.We have had no collective musical influences in the form of artists. Playing around with our senses is a lot more entertaining than mimickery, ain't it? Although some people who've heard these tracks say we sound a lot like Asa from Africa and I wouldn't disagree!”
The band’s music has a lot of earthy elements too. “The vocals have a very earthy element to it. But our music remains very acoustic, indi-folk by nature,” adds Rishii
Musicians by default, friends first, Lekha and Rishii share a camaraderie. “Rishii and I honestly have a very funny and frustrating love-hate relationship. Right now, looks like the only interest we share is to get this EP done,” Lekha asserts.
Enthusing how their collaboration is often effortlessly in sync, Rishii states, “I come up with the song structure. She listens to it, words it and croons. The sync is just very very beautiful. We don't know how it happens, but songs just fall into place!”
Unconventional yet unique; there’s a certain sense of grounding to the band’s music. But, Lekha and Rishii believe in taking it slow. Speaking about what’s next, the duo signs off, “We wish to focus on bringing out more music than just play at a lot of venues. We are looking at building a connect than just an impressive social media reach. But, through the course of making this EP – seven months is a long time – we're discovering music at our own pace, in our own ways and we're both on the same page somehow – Indie, Chill and Downtempo. We both love Green and we write this in her memory – to tell everyone to do the same.”
