New Delhi-based outfit Dee En enthralled listeners earlier last year with the release of their debut EP, ‘Whoopsie Daisy‘ which treated listeners to their hazy, yet dreamy brand of psychedelic rock and indie pop. And come March 2019, the talented band has now finally returned to action with their latest EP. Titled ‘Poppin’‘, the 5-track body of work sounds like a wonderful reintroduction to Dee En’s music as they carry forward into the next chapter of their journey which goes on to showcase their methodical experimentation with sound in the most convincing manner till date.
Led by the EP’s only single ‘Milagro‘ which seemingly provides us with a fitting soundtrack to the urban oasis of Delhi NCR, the opening track ‘Circle‘ sets up underlying tone of the project beautifully as Dee En dial up the echoing, sweet melodies which fall in sync with the retro basslines and reverberating vocals. Next comes ‘Hope To Be‘ which makes us travel to the realm of psych rock only to be pushed towards a whole new territory soon after. ‘Both Of Us‘ goes on to deliver a wholesome, yet intriguing mix of psych-inspired space rock before the EP’s notorious finale, ‘Cokehead‘ goes on to steal the limelight with its glitched out synths and unadulterated composition.
Fresh off the EP’s highly anticipated release, we also managed to catch up with Saurav Debnath from Dee En to talk about ‘Poppin”, the collaborative effort on their latest project, future plans and much more.
Read on.
TBB: Poppin’ arrives as your first output since the successful release of your debut EP, ‘Whoopsie Daisy’. Can you tell us a bit about putting together your sophomore body of work and what were you planning to do with it?
Dee En: Well, to be fair Poppin EP’ was more or less a successive work flow ever since Whoopsie Daisy as we had already been working on these songs and there had never been a real break or anything to visualize a solid plan. Although the idea was to delve more into the tricks and techniques we had learnt over the first EP and produce a much more cohesive album in terms of its presentation.
TBB: 2018 turned out to be a great year for Dee En! When you look back at all the success garnered, how do you reflect on all the highs and lows from the past twelve months?
Dee En: Collectively I don’t think at any point we’ve felt the success except for all the festivals and gigs we’ve been playing I mean it’s very nice to know that people appreciate the effort however our aspired success is based on our execution and how well we are being able to carry out all the things we as a band/unit wish to fulfill in retrospect to our love for the art.
TBB: While your previous EP stood out for striking a near perfect balance between the sun-kissed tonality and the hazy, moody soundscapes, Poppin’ builds on the sounds and atmospherics that create interesting layers. Was it a conscious approach towards creating this environment which surrounds your music or a natural process that has steadily grown on its own?
Dee En: Quite naturally we are deeply involved with layers being juxtaposed onto each other especially on Poppin’ since it’s much more of a collaborative effort than the previous one. What probably stood out for us in this album was the designing process, to find coherent meaning within these layers although I still think we haven’t yet cracked it but that’s pretty much the challenge we would like to impose on ourselves with each project.
TBB: Your latest EP packs in some impressive songwriting throughout its proceedings. Led by its stand out cut ‘Milagro’, can you shed some light on what easily makes up one of the record’s most memorable highlights?
Dee En: I think most of this EP has been based around a particular phase of overly imposed ideas which often allowed at least for me in particular to use my songwriting as a channel to state or narrate rather than finding answers. Most of these songs mean nothing unless you’ve been on a similar tangent of thought in relation to almost anything or nothing but I’m sort of glad people often do tap into the words not necessarily as a third person.
TBB: After going through the EP multiple times, I can’t help but to emphasise on ‘Cokehead’ which sounds like a hyperactive, yet grand culmination of Dee En’s several characteristics and charms. Would you like to share some of your thoughts on the closing track?
Dee En: Yes there is this constant debate of favorites and I think much of this album was finished when Ashrey and I got done with the production of Cokehead and while he thinks it’s the best mix in the whole record, I find the song extremely uneased by my own values attached to it and as we went along everyone just added more and more agitation to the song, for instance the synth solo by Aditya in the end. Quite strangely my outlet of the whole song is fairly the bassline to which I usually cling onto but in the hindsight I guess this song well describes the usual mental state or perhaps an anxious day and guess that’s what this whole album is about you know.
TBB: Lastly, what can we expect from Dee En next for the rest of 2019?
Dee En: I think there’s no such thing as expectations unless you really feel the need of something obsessively and for us it’s only about being truly obsessed to our music, lyric and art for which we haven’t definitely found the sweet spot yet.
Listen to Dee En’s ‘Poppin’‘ EP below.
Photo Credits: Prabhakar Duwarah