MUMBAI: Rounak Maiti’s music is intimate, refined and the sound is a fine blend of lo-fi pop plus classic to 70's country music. Currently based in Los Angeles, the self-taught singer-songwriter from Mumbai is prolific, inimitable and his debut album ‘Bengali Cowboy’ reflects the same. ‘Bengali Cowboy’ was released on 7 June on Pagal Haina, a Delhi-based independent record label and we can’t get enough of his voice that will make you feel the sounds of silence, like a soothing gentle symphony.

Rounak, who is a big fan of the old-fashioned music, was first exposed to music during his childhood. He started his classical piano training at the age of seven. Playing classical piano brought him a lot of joy when he was introduced to some essential tenets of music, he told Radioandmusic. “Around the age of 15, I started to lose interest in the instrument, picked up my sister's guitar and started teaching myself songs and chords via YouTube. Gradually I progressed towards writing my own songs around the age of 16,” said he.

He has been hugely influenced by musical tropes of country music - the chord progressions, twangy guitars and accent changes clearly indicate this kind of melody. While talking about the debut album ‘Bengali Cowboy’, the sound, the given name, the hidden tales he shared that Bengali Cowboy is a concept country album about identity. While the traditional idea of a ‘cowboy’, to him, has always been about expansiveness, a grounded sense of home and strong, self-referential identity markers. “I’ve been toying with the idea of making a non-traditional country album that isn't about one place in particular but rather about a transient set of experiences and people in my life. Having moved around and seen my family grow more and more nebulous over the last four-five years of my life, a lot of these songs are about those experiences,” told Rounak.

Since he first started playing guitar, he always wanted to be a musician. He writes, records, mixes and produces all of his music completely by himself. Rounak, who has no background in country, was curious how could he essentially appropriate the genre into creating his own, diasporic, ‘Bengali-fied’ version of country music. The ideology behind ‘Bengali Cowboy’ was very minimal and drone-like music, providing a constant canvas against which he sings the words. “Most of these songs began as words that came into my head or phrases I’d write down for later reference. However, at the same time, I wanted to completely abandon the stripped down, acoustic nature of my older music - rather I wanted to create a lush, full-band sound that still maintained a quiet sense of intimacy,” added he.

Rounak takes a very DIY, self-starter approach to recording his music, often he uses unconventional keyboard sounds and mixing methods to do fun, engaging things. Structuring or conceptualising a track is a learning process for him when he records music. “And this album, having a full, drums and bass and guitars sound, took a long time to fully get used to mixing and mastering properly. I guess my focal point is to have this push-and-pull dynamic between the vocals and the music,” he put in plain words.

Currently, he is listening to, loving and feeling moved and influenced by Futurebirds, Bonny Doon, Alex G, Cotton Jones, Lambchop, Karen Dalton, Joan Baez among others. The reason Rounak loves a lot of folk and country, old and new, is its tendency to focus on storytelling. “Awfully enough, every time I hear my song 'getaway' that was shot on video for the tehelka music project, I cringe. Can't listen to my older music very much anymore, it’s too corny,” he signs off.

To finish, in support of the release, Rounak is performing a special set today at the OddBird Theatre and Foundation as part of Songbird Sessions on Sunday 10 June 2017.