MUMBAI: Despite playing in a band- 'Rosemary' for a few years, Achint Thakkar only played his first ever gig at blueFROG recently. The upcoming musician started playing music at an early age. He said that a number of his friends from school played music, which is how he learnt the art himself. Achint went on to form a band in college and played all over the country at various college competitions.

Achint took a break from his band to hone his talent by taking up individual projects. "I did a little ad work and jingle work. I have done a lot of corporate films and still work with a band," he said. He has also scored music for a few short films, and is currently working on his debut album 'Shalimar'.

Speaking about the album Achint said, "I should be done with it soon, hopefully in another three or so months. There are also plans for a launch gig." However, he is unsure of whether or not the album will be released independently or through a label.

Keeping in tune with his music style, which is a fusion of global sounds, Achint's debut album will feature a mix of world music. The tracks, which have been composed recently, are a blend of sufi, electronic and western classical, and although it will not rely heavily on lyrics, it will have some backing vocals. "It is more like a collage of songs; there are no real lyrics, but a lot of different kinds of voices. There are two poems by Bulleh Shah, a sufi poet, and Punjabi folk songs mixed into a more contemporary setting," he said.

While the upcoming album will not have any "collaborations" per se, he is working with a number of musicians. One in particular is Naveen Kumar, who is AR Rahman's flute player. The album will include a cover of Beethoven, for which Kumar is playing the bansuri. It will also have snippets of folk musicians from Rajasthan.

Achint, who plays the guitar, keyboards and percussion, is planning on doing more gigs as well. He added that once the album comes out, there might even be a multi-city promotion. However, those details are still being worked out. He also hopes to play for some of the music festivals in the country.

Unlike many other independent artistes, Achint is open to making music for Bollywood. "Yes, I would compose for Bollywood, but only if a good and like-minded director comes along, I would love to do that," he said.