Best of all Sounds

Barely a few months since the band was formed,electric funk rock act,USP,has released a three-song EP,exploring individual sounds that inspire the members

Musician Vishal Gore has been playing guitar for the past 19 years. Last year,while performing a song set at a local venue,he was approached by future band-member bassist Ayushman Datta Gupta with a proposition to give Gores songs a four-piece treatment. Within a few months,USP,an electric funk rock act,was conceptualised and subsequently consummated last week when the band launched their first EP,Boots and Cats. They will perform at Ship Bar and Grill on Friday.

We were playing a Sofar (short for a movement called Songs from a Room) set at a venue in Pune in February where Arika (Silaichia,the fourth member) was a part of the audience, says Gore. During a soundcheck,she started rapping to some of the stuff we were playing. What she was doing was interesting and we asked her to jam with us the next week. The three of us then started writing songs right away and came up with a lot of original material, he says.

Just when the band was on a lookout for a drummer,along came Abhishek Debsikdar,who had just graduated from the Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music (SAM) at the time,and filled the gap. The bands sound was complete and USP was on the road.

Our sound is quite interesting. Abhishek has learned a lot of Latin and Cuban beats and brings its nuances into the music. Ayushmans bass influences come from jazz so he breaks into improvisational jazz harmonies, says Gore,adding,Arika interjects spontaneous rap bits while performing on stage and supplies our music with soulful layers.

Talking about the first song they recorded Gore says,The track is called Winter. Since the season symbolises gloom,the song follows suit. It is about a regular emotion one often goes through,but the chorus is very summer-like nice and bright. The song in entirety has a very laidback,trippy vibe to it,and gives out a jazz-blues feel.

The first song on the EP is a track called My Friend. I have the habit of addressing people with,listen,my friend,and my friends often make fun of me about it. So I thought of writing a song on going out and partying which goes like this My dear friend,Don’t you give it up. Fill your cup,just live it up. Don’t you give it up, says Gore. The verses have a dark sinister vibe and the sound,overall,is very rock-ish. The chorus then moves into upbeat reggae.

USPs music is available on Soundcloud for downloads. We also plan on coming up with a full-fledged album early next year,the material for which is ready. There will be eight new songs and the three in Boots and Cats will be featured as bonus tracks, says Gore.

Click here to join Express Pune WhatsApp channel and get a curated list of our stories

Tags:
pune