MUMBAI: Making the best of available resources, in a way, has defined the Paraphoniks' members' artistic abilities and the efforts have started to pay off one year since the act’s inception. Launching its latest EP - Yarns - in a uniquely crafted arrangement stands as one of the examples to the same. Comprising co-founder Shatrunjai Dhiwan and Siddhant Shirodkar, Yarns became the duo’s first EP together, and Paraphoniks’ second.

The act began with Dhiwan and Aman Nath in 2015, however, the latter’s exit resulted into the new recruit in the form of music technology student Shirodkar after the release of the debut effort; an album called ‘Handwired’. “At the time I was working with Aman on Paraphoniks, I was learning more about synthesis (technique of generating sound) from him and exploring the world of modular synths, and the music would just be a result of that process. Less thought was given to the kind of outcome we would expect, which worked pretty well,” said Shirodkar, who believes the duo has managed to capture the lush, warm sound of analog synths in the new EP as opposed to grid, danceable and hard hitting ‘Handwired’. Former member and co-founder Aman Nath did contribute his contribution to Paraphoniks with the provision of his studio (A2 Studios) for mixing and mastering of the EP

The ability of the duo to structure the compositional sides of things while crossing genre boundaries speaks loud-and-clear of the compatibility grown and the desire to find an agreed common ground. Shirodkar brought his musical influences that vastly varied to Aman Nath’s and Dhiwan found the aspect exciting enough to begin things with. “With Sid (Siddhant) being around, we try to focus on keeping the music fresh, and his musical background and influences are a lot different from Aman’s which of course is directly related to the kind of music that is created so I guess I’d say the sound and output has definitely evolved,” replied Dhiwan, on the differences he observed while working with the two partners.

What started as a result out of experiments with modular synthesisers, ‘Yarns’ break certain observations (or misconceptions) about the act’s sonic capacity, and the 5-track EP finally justifies the duo’s claim of “using synths and other instruments in the larger context of making good electronic music, and not be thought of as ‘synth artists’”. The consistent dependency on analog outboard gear resulted into massive difference in the colour and tone achieved.

The five-track EP, through the opening track ‘Slip’ to the conclusion ‘Frissions’, covers several untried sonic spaces that ‘Handwired’ could not lead to. From the soundtrack of a videogame to the backing score of an anime, ‘Yarns’ compositions appeal to the young, the 20s something nerds, the teenage rebels. For example, Frissions could very well find a place on the fashion ramp walks as well as underground anti-social music hub in a suburb.

And that is in fact how Paraphoniks would be launching ‘Yarns’. With 8.1 surround sound, Paraphoniks through the first venue of ‘Yarns’ EP tour – antiSocial Mumbai – would be executing first-of-its-kind live act in India. For the 8.1 surround system arrangement, the duo could not have asked for a better venue, and the musicians have someone else to thank for. The act’s intent to extend its sonic horizons for live performances had been long time coming, and with the support from the management team at Mixtape and SOUND.com, the surround sound idea would now act as the catalyst to the ultimate experience of ‘Yarns’. “We are very grateful for this. In terms of how this will translate for the audience, we hope that we can create an immersive spatial sound-experience that people aren’t really used to having at live music performances. To our knowledge, this hasn’t been attempted in the independent music scene in India thus far. The music itself will be a combination of our new EP, Yarns, along with a lot of new material we wrote for this tour,” informed the duo.

With two efforts released in two consecutive years, Paraphoniks does not feel compelled to follow the approach for the upcoming releases too. Completely focused on the ongoing tour, the act feels churning out stuff for the sake of touring cycle would not justify the cause and reflect well musically.

Paraphoniks kicks off its EP tour on the night of 02 September at antiSocial, Mumbai, before heading to Pune, Chennai and New Delhi as part of the four-city tour.