How did the collaboration between Agnee and Amitabh Bhattacharya come about for the song “ Mallaah ”?
Koco had started composing this song quite a few years ago , with the dummy word “ Saiyaan ”. Typically , when we compose , it ’ s sometimes nicer to use dummy words to express the tune . A few years later , when we got down to recording the song , we got the entire song written around the word “ Saiyyaan ”, but after mixing and mastering the song , we just hated the word as it was so often used in so many songs , and so we decided we had to speak to our genius friend , Amitabh , to help us out of this mess . We called him and he came to meet us the same evening .. and within half hour , he had written the entire Mukhda and given the song a completely different meaning and direction . We just loved the word “ Mallaah ” as soon as he suggested it , and we knew he ’ d breathed new life to the lyrics .
Could you share the inspiration behind the metaphoric concept of the Mallaah in the song ’ s lyrics ?
Amitabh himself is quite an inspiration to us , and we don ’ t usually ask him where he gets his ideas from , since his brain must be a complicated place if it can hold so many brilliant thoughts at once . We were just really happy with the direction the song took as soon as Amitabh shared the first word .
“ Mallaah ” started as a love song but took a philosophical turn . Can you elaborate on the creative process behind this transformation ?
The song features a unique combination of Agnee ’ s signature sound and Amitabh Bhattacharya ’ s lyrical genius . How did these elements complement each other ?
We ’ re all good friends and that shows in the work we do . The song was always melodically a true Agnee signature , with Koco ’ s riffs and Mohan ’ s vocals . The solo that Koco ’ s played on Mallaah is probably one of the best he ’ s played in Agnee ’ s songs , and that ’ s saying a lot as he ’ s played such brilliant solos on Agnee tracks over the years . Mohan ’ s vocals are a little more aggressive in this one as the lyrics and composition needed it , and he felt the angst of the lyrics “ Paar Le Chal Zara ” would come out even more clearly with a growly take on that line . Once the song fell in place with Amitabh ’ s lyrics coming in , everything moved super smoothly and Hrishi and Chirayu replaced the programmed drums and bass as well , as they wanted to put in their own personalities in the song . Overall , this is a true collaborative effort among people who understand each other very well , and that ’ s probably why the song sounds like a cohesive whole .
Collaboration seems to be a recurring theme in your work . How do you find the right partners and artists to work with ?
Koco always had the basic idea down pat : partner with people you can hang out with , as the band needs to be together more than 300 days a year . That philosophy seeps into our collaborations outside of the band as well , when we call in guest singers or lyricists . We are lucky to have very good friends who inspire us by what they do , and it ’ s always exciting to collaborate with musicians and lyricists who push us to do better .
What role do live performances play in your artistic journey , and how do you adapt your songs to create a memorable live experience ?
Whenever we create a song and record it in the studio , we ’ re already thinking of how we ’ re going to play it live . Live performances are when we ’ re at our happiest and the energy of thousands of people singing our songs back or cheering for us is addictive . We also love changing the arrangements of songs around when we perform , it keeps us also excited about each show , and it keeps the audience guessing . We have a lot of loyal listeners who come to every show of ours in their city , and we want to make sure they get something new each time . We ’ re also blessed with extremely talented musicians in the band , and at times , even more than the audience , we ’ re amazed at the magic our fellow band members create , and that ’ s really the recipe to never wanting to get off stage .
What ’ s next for Agnee ? Are there any exciting projects or collaborations on the horizon that fans can look forward to ?
We ’ re coming up with several releases in the next few months .. we ’ ve been working on 6 new singles , and we ’ re releasing our entire back catalogue of songs from 2008 till 2019 officially on all streaming platforms . We also have a ten song album with Saregama that will release soon , that features collaborations with amazing artists like Neeti Mohan , Shalmali Kholghade , Kaushiki Chakraborty , Monica Dogra and Shruti Pathak . All of this in the next 12 months .. it promises to be an exciting year for Agnee !
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