The education and attention of global scenes in the Western mainstream market has shifted. Afrobeats, K-pop and reggaeton have become apexian to the contemporary zeitgeist, reaching new creative heights and influencing genre far outside of their incepting reach. The Indian music scene though, still in majority skirts around the underground, with only a rare few acts making their way into UK music conversation.
“That changes with time and the gradual consolidation of people and culture around the world through the internet and knowledge,” Peter Cat Recording Co, the Indian quintet shifting the narrative, say when asked if the industry still lacks understanding and knowledge of Asian scenes. “It seems like a natural and hopeful trajectory for us all to know a bit more about each other’s culture as we move ahead. Ideally, that takes a backseat to a listener’s experience of the world.”
Transcending even the concept of genre, there is an endearing and seminal vitality to the elusive yet sharply conceptual sonic moxie of PCRC. Less a band, more a vessel of evolution and expression, the outfit weave through sounds and ideas across their decadent discography, with 2019’s Bismillah undoubtedly one of the year’s most interesting, engaging and overlooked releases.
Today (9th August), the collective return with her next record, BETA, their first in five years. It’s an album created without restriction, a characteristic reflected in the seamless diversity, chemistry and innovation that flows throughout the hour runtime; a consistent undercurrent of catharsis, coherence and captivation. The songwriting is personal, affecting and humorous, and the soundscapes are surprising and striking, a remarkable plethora of sonic ideas that come together as one effortless and enigmatic listen. BETA, like its predecessor, is a truly superb album, one that grows and expands, and deserves your full attention.
We had the pleasure of connecting with the trailblazing group, diving deep into their essence and the new record.
Listen to BETA…
Read the exclusive interview…
Talk us through the origins of the Peter Cat Recording Co?
Suryakant founded the project nearly 13 years ago in his bedroom in Gurgaon, Haryana. Beyond this , the band’s history has been repeated many times and can be absorbed from the inter-webs .
At its core, what is the ethos of the project?
To be a universally understood project of music and film. Something which engages with our humanity and is free from the boundaries of nationhood or personal identity.
How would you define your essence sonically?
This is an evolving idea but it generally seems to tend to this idea of alternative history and context in the music and film. I think Japanese anime also has this cross cultural, transnational style where it doesn’t matter where a part of the anime comes from, be it the music or location or story. They use bits of everything from human history. I like this approach. Our music can be like that, from christian hymn sounding to an Indian marriage ceremony to a sea shanty. Our music is a reflection of our experience on earth. It belongs to no scene or peoples.
In what ways do Indian culture and the country’s creative legacy drive the PCRC sound and sonic approach?
I think we integrate our Indian experience into the music and film in a very subtle and novel way. We don’t try to embed famous elements of what is
necessarily Indian but things like, our recordings are often meant to be noisier to indicate the real atmosphere we’re surrounded by. India’s full of surprises and extreme juxtaposition of purity and filth, luxury and poverty. These play out in our work in a way as we see fit.
How do you feel looking back at your earlier work, measuring your artistic progression within the framework of your discography?
I enjoy the older stuff more and more although I generally never listen to our music . We look ahead, always and the new sound on BETA will be another step towards something unheard .
You returned this year with your first music since 2019. What have you been doing in that period away from releasing?
Well life happened, Covid, moving, money troubles, the usual. Eventually we shifted to Goa in India where the real work on BETA began and we finally got our bearings again.
Congratulations on your new record, BETA! How are you feeling about the release?
A great sense of relief. The excitement will come later hopefully. Most importantly, we really want people to enjoy it and experience some new core memories to go along with it.
What us through the creative process of the LP?
In general we have 2 ways of producing a song. I bring in the skeleton of it or I bring in a full grown song. Sometimes, the songs need bits of decoration here and there. Sometimes it needs us all to get in a room and construct it together. That’s just step one. The next step involves understanding the song and why it exists and how it needs to sound by the end. That’s a long drawn out process, similar to cutting a statue out of marble one chip at a time. When the music is done, then it’s time to understand what it looks like. We do that too and in this case, it was just this image I saw in Chinatown in Bangkok. Somehow it clicked. Karan has a child and it clicked. Everything is serendipitous for us. There’s a bit of a cosmic arc to this.
What influenced the album, musically and thematically?
Every day I practice serious observation. I watch people, animals, read books and articles, watch films, insects or the weather. Everything is noted. Every moment I feel something is noted. Eventually all of these things help me write the songs and then when I look up and see the world around, it makes sense eventually.
What is the overarching message of BETA?
To move ahead. To never stop. Nothing ever does.
Do you have a favourite song from the album? If so, which?
“A beautiful life” is my favourite song. I’m still looking for one.