EPK – Never Elected – Turbulent (2024)

He finally answers the call that he has been deliberately ignoring over the last few weeks. “Please come back. Please. I don’t know why I let this happen. I’m dying, please return. I’ll make all the changes and it will all be better, but for now please come back. Please return”

Ever since he left, he has been shuttling between places and he had just found a place to live that he could afford. He leaves that place, losing his deposit and advance rent to return.

In less than three days, she tells him it’s over again and this time he knows he’s done, even though he has nowhere to go.

4. SO DAMN EASY – They kept telling him, that he needs to voice out everything that he has bottled up inside. He is happy just smiling and spreading the happiness and love. He is now just an existentialist and doesn’t care for life and has a constant hope to end it all. He is never ever going to show it or let anyone know, while dealing with episodes of severe bouts of depression and suicidal ideation, where he sometimes screams out for help silently while telling people that he does not need saving.

We’re sitting at a bar way past closing time. The owners were friends and they let us sit in after everyone was gone and the doors were shut. We’re talking about old times and school days when Kurt  asks “ Baba, you sure you ok?” I burst out laughing and ask him why he asks. He says that he feels I’ve been bottling up all my thoughts. Then says “You’ve got to let it all go man. You’ve got to let out and show everyone what you have inside”

5. TIME – Cocaine, a plethora of pills, and a bottomless pit of Rum sounded like the perfect place to meet his soulmate.

During a time of complete hopelessness and having lost all reason to keep living, he goes on a partying binge where he hopes to overdose and die. There is nothing to save for and nothing and no one to live for anyway. There is no one he trusts and no one he knows that believes in him. One night, he thinks he has finally found someone who believes in him and accepts him for the loser that he is. The night at the club was great and the days and nights that followed were even better. He thought he had found his soulmate, only for both to wake up to reality once the high had worn out.

6. STAB ME – story of a boy who was born to family where the dad was a highly respected person, and his mom was a ‘housewife’. He was a smart and confident kid who did well in art and sport, and did average academically, but it was never ‘good enough’. He was always put down by family because he didn’t match the HIGH STANDARDS set by the family.  Always being put down and under pressure with no one to talk to, his only friend was his mom.

He finds his solace in drugs in his late teens and gets to a point where the parents and immediate neighbors realize. Instead of helping him in the right way, the dad wants to hush the problem and tells him to “Figure it out” and “get out of it”. He doesn’t want anyone to know that his son is a drug addict. He stops giving him money for college and tells him to “figure it out”.

Kid starts stealing from home, his neighbors, and his friends to support his habit. Neighbors and friends let mom know. Mom cannot tell this to dad and she needs to keep this hush, so secretly gives money to the kid to support his habit..

These are his thoughts and conversations with his mom who helped him dissolve his pain away to death.

7. Voice Inside – Sitting on the top of a terrace on a hill, looking down at the city contemplating on giving up or fighting on and working to bigger, better things ahead. Working on long forgotten dreams. Working on every little strain of positive thought that was either suppressed, burnt out or deliberately killed by myself.

As I sat there reminiscing about good times, I felt guilty. For no reason at all, a feeling of guilt is what went through me. I was not used to feeling or thinking of good times. It had been ages. My mind and body seemed to be rejecting these good feelings.

Maybe it was the hash that night or the fact that I was away and alone from social interaction for a bit that opened the doorway into my long-suppressed self.

8. TOLERANCE BROKEN – After years of soaking in insults and building walls internally, the volcano inside of him is no longer dormant and is ready to explode. He now sees things in a different way and is ready to destroy it all.

Told to pretend and wear a mask, smile and tolerate and soak in all the offence. Keep those feelings locked behind those walls you have learnt to build all your life.

Whether as a girl in a patriarchal world, or as a dark skinned / unpretty / ugly child, hiding behind layers of make up or an artist forced to hide within cubicles of data filled screens. Or an immigrant in an unwelcome new world.

9. ALL MY LIFE – All My Life begins with a Rhyme that the artist’s grandma sang to him regularly, mocking his ugly looks as a toddler. The genesis of this fiery and incisive track lies in that childhood rhyme, a haunting echo of a grandma’s jests at the artist’s toddler ugliness. This fiery and incisive track serves as an unfiltered outpouring of frustration directed at all those who have brought adversity into the artist’s life, spanning different periods and across various aspects. It is a brief rant on the hypocrisy and self-serving agendas exhibited by both, close and extended family. To amplify its potency, the band enlisted the vocal prowess of Reena Joy, reviving the persona of the Grandma with chilling authenticity. The band continues their collaboration with Rahul Mukerji of Proviscocity LLC, who the band had previously worked with,on their last two releases, “Where You Belong” and “Wake Up”, both of which garnered widespread acclaim on a global scale. Recorded by Zink Hossain at Zinkferd Studio in Virginia, the song then travelled across the Niagara to Montreal, Canada, where it was mixed by Matty Pellets and mastered by Jason Stanley at Studio 9. Recorded by Zink Hossain at Zinkferd Studio in Virginia, the song embarked on a transcontinental journey, traversing the Niagara to Montreal, Canada. Here, it underwent meticulous mixing by Matty Pellets and mastering by Jason Stanley at Studio 9, adding layers of sonic depth to its raw emotional resonance.

10. DEATH COMPLAINT – Battered and bruised, mentally, emotionally, and even physically, because he just got off a fist fight that he provoked for no reason known to him as he has always been scared of violence and would never want to cause harm to anyone in any form….  He walks back to the room, he now lives in, looking at whatever possessions he physically owns. High on a mix of sleeping pills, alcohol and a few other drugs, his brain works out a suicide plan with what he sees before him but he stops at the last minute..

11. ONE OF THESE DAYS – One of These Days is all about self-reflection, introspection, and the yearning for transformation. Broken mirrors and distorted reflections, give an insight into the artist’s identity and innermost thoughts. Torn within himself, he acknowledges the existence of an ‘Echo Chamber’, where his words and thoughts resonate without being fully comprehended by others.

Despite these hurdles the artist decides to confront his fears and uncertainties head-on. The line “I want to walk on the sun, Might get my feet burnt, Let’s do it” encapsulates his resolve to embrace risk and challenge themselves, even in the face of potential adversity.

In essence, “One of These Days” encapsulates the journey toward self-awareness and personal growth, urging listeners to confront their inner truths and pursue change, regardless of the uncertainties that may await them.