Building on the momentum of his acclaimed debut album A Sacred Bore -- featured in Pitchfork, VICE, BBC Introducing, The Guardian, The Quietus, and Rolling Stone India -- Scottish polymath Kapil Seshasayee makes an eclectic shift away from his experimental roots towards a psychedelic crossover of R&B and avant Indian classical evocative of Solange, Arca, and Ananda Shankar on his upcoming album, Laal.

While the serrated guitar architecture of Kapil’s first LP put forth a scathing critique of the lingering manifestations of the caste system that still permeate Indian communities in the guises of honour killings and Hindu nationalism, this second installment in his Desifuturist Trilogy of albums expands on those issues with a focus on the Bollywood film industry. “Every song from the album tells a story about what’s not immediately visible in Bollywood,” says Kapil. “I want those stories to illuminate things that people aren't thinking about and empower those who live these stories.”

The album’s first track “The Gharial” (set for release Friday, May 22, 2020) is a scathing critique of Bollywood profiteering off of nationalism at a time of great political unrest in India through the release of anachronistic period films. Releasing films which present truncated depictions of triumph in eras such as the Mughal empire serve only to escalate tensions between different factions of an audience divided by issues such as the Citizenship Amendment Act & COVID-19 epidemic in the present day. The song is named for a type of crocodile considered sacred in traditional Hindu mythology - it's no coincidence that recent hit film Tanjhaji featured a cartoonishly "evil" antagonist roasting and eating a crocodile onscreen. Such films seek not to educate or entertain, but to weaponise conflict.

“The Pink Mirror” (set for release Friday, June 5, 2020) is a sonic essay on censorship and dissonance within LGBT representation in Bollywood cinema. While antiquated portrayals of LGBT caricatures continue to serve as little more than comedic relief in mainstream Indian cinema, attempts by LGBT film makers to tell their own stories are often blocked from release (the song is named after a Hindi film by queer film maker Sridhar Rangayan, which was banned by the Indian Censor Board). "The Pink Mirror" highlights the prevalence of problematic narratives in modern Bollywood films, which includes transphobic portrayals of trans characters as villains trying to deceive other characters through seduction. Proceeds from "The Pink Mirror" will be donated to Solaris Pictures, which champions the production and distribution of Indian queer cinema.

Bollywood can feed into misogyny as well. The track “The Item Girl” centers on a dehumanizing trope of a very specific Bollywood typecast. If you watch many Bollywood movies, you’ll start to notice that every film features a lively song and dance number sung by a peripheral character typically known as an item girl -  a very sexualized young woman in a non-speaking role, merely existing as a public spectacle whose sole purpose is arousal. In stark contrast - the archetypal Bollywood heroine is usually portrayed as virginal and subservient. Kapil insists if a young man grows up with these depictions of women in movies in a diasporic brown household, it influences the way he treats and thinks about women. The notion of an independent or opinionated woman being irrelevant to the plot of a film sends a powerful, problematic message.

“For a long time, I found the persistence of archaic sexism and misogyny among other brown men in the diaspora really strange at a time where everything else is developing,” reflects Kapil, “but then you realise it’s embedded into the very pop culture they grew up with. A popular medium normalising troubling behaviours is nothing new however - it takes little more than a tweet from someone powerful now to elicit a riot.”

Seshasayee’s remark reminds us that Bollywood’s troubling tropes are not wholly unique to India’s film industry, but are often local manifestations of global tropes, social ills normalized by powerful interests who have much to gain by sowing discord. The entertainment industry is, at once, the culprit and the platform most primed for positive change. Therefore, Kapil is aiming for a more nuanced approach.

The musical influences driving Kapil’s work are disparate enough to elicit intrigue, but can all be heard throughout A Sacred Bore: Richard Dawson, Scott Walker, Glenn Branca, Satyajit Ray & Einsturzende Neubauten. For Laal, Kapil draws on a refreshingly diverse set of influences - from the socially conscious R&B of D’Angelo to the Indian classical ornamentations of saxophonist Kadri Gopalnath, from the abstract yet holistic cadences of Amirtha Kidambi to the inspiring production chops of Kindness and Blood Orange.

While Seshasayee’s labyrinthine guitar leads still pay homage to the harmonic and rhythmic influence of Carnatic music, here it emotes the cerebral avant-jazz of Mary Halvorson and is refined via digital processing reminiscent of St. Vincent. The new hazy R&B sound delves into an entirely new palette of sounds, from the Prophet 5 synth plugins prominent on “The Item Girl” to the further-afield explorations in granular synthesis inspired by Arca, Sophie, and the sonic textures of Holly Herndon.

Having shared festival bills at SXSW, Latitude Festival, Celtic Connections, Cardiff Psych Festival & SOLAS Festival with the likes of Gaelynn Lea, Ben Folds, Raghu Dixit & Damo Suzuki - Kapil has developed a reputation as an engrossing and engaging live performer, producing his stunning arrangements alone with a variety of instruments and tools at his disposal.

Building on the momentum of his acclaimed debut A Sacred Bore - featured in Pitchfork, VICE, BBC Introducing, The Guardian, The Quietus & Rolling Stone India, Scottish polymath Kapil Seshasayee makes an eclectic shift away from his experimental roots towards a Psychedelic crossover of RnB & Avant Indian Classical evocative of Solange, FKA Twigs and Ananda Shankar on “The Item Girl” (Out 18th October via Loner Noise). While the serrated guitar architecture of Kapil’s first LP put forth a scathing critique of the lingering manifestations of the caste system that still permeate Indian communities in the guises of honour killings and Hindu nationalism, this second installment in a Desifuturist Trilogy of albums expands on those issues with a focus on the Bollywood film industry:

“Every song from the album is going to tell a story about Bollywood,” says Kapil, “...what’s not immediately visible. I want those stories to illuminate things that people aren't thinking about and empower those who live these stories”

“The Item Girl” centers on a dehumanizing trope of a very specific Bollywood typecast. If you watch many Bollywood movies, you’ll start to notice that every film features a lively song and dance number sung by a peripheral character typically known as an item girl -  a very sexualized young woman in a non-speaking role, merely existing as a public spectacle whose sole purpose is arousal. Kapil insists if a young man grows up with these depictions of women in movies in a diasporic brown house-hold in the US or in Europe, it influences the way he treats women and the way he thinks about them. The notion of a woman who is either independent and opinionated only being irrelevant to the plot of a film sends a powerful message.

In stark contrast - the archetypal Bollywood heroine is usually portrayed as a virginal and subservient stereotype. “For a long time, I found the persistence of archaic sexism among other brown men in the diaspora really strange at a time where everything else is developing,” reflects Kapil, “but then you realise it’s embedded into the very pop culture they grew up with. A popular medium normalising troubling behaviours is nothing new however - it takes little more than a tweet from someone powerful now to elicit a riot.”

The influences driving Kapil’s work are disparate enough to elicit intrigue, but can all be heard throughout A Sacred Bore: Richard Dawson, Scott Walker, Glenn Branca, Satyajit Ray & Einsturzende Neubauten. For his new record, Kapil draws on a refreshing new palette of sounds - from the socially conscious RnB of D’Angelo to the Indian classical ornamentations of saxophonist Kadri Gopalnath.

“There's nothing good about the caste system so deciding upon the themes of the first record was very simple but I'm going for a more nuanced approach for the followup. I don't want to just be slating Bollywood for 10 songs. I want to illuminate what's worthy of discussion about it, perhaps even what positivity can be gleaned from is influence. But this single, it's an attack on a really negative trope with a lasting cultural influence.

Having shared festival bills at SXSW, Latitude Festival, Celtic Connections, Cardiff Psych Festival & SOLAS Festival with the likes of Gaelynn Lea, Ben Folds, Raghu Dixit & Damo Suzuki - Kapil will be touring throughout the UK in support of “The Item Girl” throughout 2019. He has developed a reputation as an engrossing and engaging live performer, producing his stunning arrangements alone with a variety of instruments and tools at his disposal.

Upcoming Tour Info (All UK):

24th September - The Glad Cafe, Glasgow

25th September - The Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh

05th October - SOAS, London

12th October - The Zanzibar Club, Liverpool

13th October - Sunbird Records, Darwen

14th October - The Castle Hotel, Manchester

15th October - JT Soar, Nottingham

16th October - Two Queens, Leicester

17th October - The Rose Hill, Brighton

18th October - The Cumberland Arms, Newcastle

19th October - The Cellar, Aberdeen

22nd October - The Old England, Bristol

23rd October - The Moon, Cardiff

24th October - Venue TBA, Swindon

25th October - Fuse Arts Centre, Bradford

30th November - Book yer Ane Fest, Dundee

(U.S. dates TBA)